Over 700 Nigerian Prisoners To Be Transferred From Italy

Over 700 Nigerian prisoners that serve in various prisons across Italy would soon be transferred to their homeland to complete their prison terms as Nigeria and Italy are negotiating on a Prisoners Transfer Agreement.

According to Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Fulvius Rusticu, who made this statement on Thursday in Abuja, Nigerian and Italian officials would meet in the first week of July in Rome to complete the agreement and possibly work out conditions for the immediate return of the prisoners.

The ambassador stated that government was not obligated to help improve the condition of prisons in Nigeria as a pre-condition for signing the agreement.

"Each country is responsible for its prisons; the logic in signing a PTA (Prisoners Transfer Agreement) is that we think that it is better for Nigerians and even Italians to serve their terms at home," he said.

According to the ambassador, being in prisons is not a nice experience and being abroad is even worse, so given the prisoner the chance to return home is in their own interest.

"It is very rare for a prisoner to want to stay in a foreign country, we have cases of Italians serving in prisons abroad and they look forward, and are happy to return home," the ambassador said.

According to official figures from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no fewer than 15,316 Nigerians are in various prisons abroad with the largest number of 752 in the UK.

Source: Legit.ng