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Godwin Tsa Abuja
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has explained that Nigeria stands to derive immense benefit as President Muhammadu Buhari signed the instrument of ratification of agreement for the transfer of sentenced persons between with Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.
Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations to the minister, Dr. Umar Gwandu, in a statement at the weekend, said the objective of the deal was to enable the sentenced persons return to their places of origin to continue their sentences where language or cultural barriers are non-existent and friends and relatives could pay regular visits.
The ratification of the agreement, Malami said, would also enhance the image of the country as responsive to the need of its citizens and guarantee the political and constitutional rights of Nigerians.
“With the agreement, persons in the Correctional Service Centres of both countries who wish to serve their sentences in their home countries would be enabled to do so,” he said.
He disclosed that Nigeria signed the Agreement on June 1, 2018 pointing out that Article 17(1) of the deal provides that each party shall notify the other in writing upon completion of the required internal procedure.
Malami disclosed that the transfer of sentenced persons under the deal was subject to the consent of the transferring and receiving parties and the sentenced persons.
Malami reiterated that Article 12 of the agreement had indicated that the cost of the transfer and transportation of a sentenced persons should be borne by the transferring parties until the time of the delivering of the sentenced persons to the jurisdiction of the receiving party.
He stated that the parties would facilitate the transfer of property, assets and equity instrument of a sentenced person that are not confiscated by law.
