LONDON- The government in London has decided to build a new wing at Kirikiri Prison in the Nigerian city of Lagos. The plan is to transfer Nigerian prisoners there.
The new wing will be a 112 beg wing, which will cost £700,000 and will be in compliant with United Nations standards. Making it easier for Britain to comply with a prisoner transfer agreement it signed with Nigeria in 2014.
The main part of the deal says that any eligible prisoner serving criminal sentences in Nigeria and Britain can be returned to complete their sentences in their respective countries.
The announcement however did not included how the British government will move these prisoners or when the project is likely to be completed.
Many prisons in Nigeria were built during colonial rule of the British, which are now over a 100 years old.
They are severely overcrowded, leading to spread of diseases but the Nigerian authorities said they are developing a strategy to tackle the issues.
Britain prison system has recently shown signs of strain such as overcrowding, rising suicide rates, a growing drug trafficking problem and other crimes within jails that were sometimes built in the Victorian era are now inappropriate in present time.
The British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement that tenders have been placed and a supplier identified to the build the wing at Kirikiri. He did not name the supplier.
Photo Credit-Sky News and Reuters
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