On The 16,300 Nigerians In Foreign Jails

At the just concluded National Conference on Committee for Foreign
Policy disclosed that there are over 16,300 Nigerians in foreign
jailhouses for drug related offences. This figure, as announced by a
delegate, the former Minister of Education, Prof. Ihechukwu Madubuike,
quoting the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), was not such
a suprise to Nigerians at home and abroad. Of this number, we were
told 3,719 Nigerian women are in Canada alone.

Rewind to 2012, when the Chairman of the House of Representatives
Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Honourable Abike Dabiri, announced to a
shocked(?) nation that there were close to 500 Nigerians, including a
septuagenarian grandmother, in Brazilian jails. This information came
to light after the Committee members visited Brazil, met with
officials and some of the prisoners. At that time, the committee
promised to do a proper head count of all Nigerians in foreign
prisons. I thought this was a big challenge to undertake.

The fact that there are thousands of Nigerians in foreign jails is not
in contention. It is a known fact that in every country of this world,
there is a Nigerian in a dingy cell somewhere. From Brazil to China,
to Afghanistan, there are Nigerians launguishing behind bars. Some are
part of the numbers that are official, while many are just statistics
in the jail without a record of their imprisonment with any Nigerian
High Commission or consulate.

According to information released by the National Conference Committee
on Foreign Policy, there are 752 Nigerians in prisons in the United
Kingdom, 700 in Chinese cells and 96 in Indonesia jail houses. It is
not only in these countries jail houses are Nigerians resident in
large numbers. There are so many in United States, many in South
Africa, Benin Republic and more worrisome in some of the volatile
areas of the world, such as Iraq and Syria.

At the height of the protests to unseat Libya's Col. Ghadaffi, I
watched a documentary on how dangerous it was to be a black person in
that country. Among the detained people interviewed on this programme
were seemingly Nigerians caught in the war en-route to 'better life'
in Europe. The thought of thousands of undocumented Nigerians in many
of the troubled countries of the world is mind-boggling.

'Walking' into prison

Let's "relocate" ourselves to 2012 again, when the Nigerian media was
awash with news of the House Committee on Diaspora Affairs' "expose"
of Nigerians in foreign jail. I remember how for many weeks unending
we were bombarded with various analyses, both from the "honourables",
government officials, paid government publicists, and self appointed
"jail analysts".

Scare tactics

Now come back to present times - 2014. And just like the House
Committee on Diaspora Affairs did in 2012, the National Conference
Committee on Foreign Affairs has also been giving Nigerians figures of
fellow citizens in foreign jails.
You now begin to wonder what the intentions of these committees are.
Rather than liaise with government and draw out plans on how to keep
Nigerians out of foreign jails, they are using the scare tactics for
whatever reason.

It is no secret that Nigerians go to any length to make ends meet.
This is no surprise. We know in every society, there are
career-criminals, who live their lives in and out of the prison
systems. However, looking at Nigerians in foreign jails, one is
tempted to conclude that a sizeable percentage of the citizens may be
behind bars for one avoidable reason or the other.

There are questions that these committees should be asking in respect
of the jail birds. What roles are Nigerian embassies playing in
keeping these compatriots away from the gates of jail houses? And
where possible, what assistance are the Nigerian embassies offering in
terms of judicial or otherwise to these citizens? These are the
questions that need answers.

Citizens in distress

And the above brings us to the type of support systems the Nigerian
government has in place for her citizens abroad. The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs should be compelled to release to the public how the
embassies all over the world offer support to citizens in distress.