Nigeria: Govt Asks Ethiopia to Expedite Action On Exchange of Sentenced Persons’ Deal

The federal government has asked its Ethiopian counterpart to speed up the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, on exchange of sentenced persons between both countries.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, stated the country’s position at a meeting with the Ethiopian Ambassador to Nigeria, Legesse Geremew Haile, in her office in Abuja.

In a statement signed by Magnus Eze, Special Assistant on Communication and New Media at the ministry, the minister expressed the federal government’s displeasure over the spate of embarrassment and harassment suffered by Nigerians, including those with official and diplomatic passports in Addis Ababa.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu reminded the Ethiopian Ambassador that the Nigeria side had concluded with reflection of the Ethiopian observations in the draft MOU on exchange of sentenced persons between both countries and wondered why signing of the MOU was being delayed, despite assurances at their meeting of March 6, 2025.

She highlighted the plight of Nigerian inmates in Ethiopia who, she said, were not having access to medical care, among other challenges, noting the overwhelming challenges this posed to the Ethiopian government.

The minister expressed dismay that a Nigerian recently died in Ethiopian prison, and declared that as a government deeply committed to citizen diplomacy, the government would not want a repeat of such ugly incident.

“Our people don’t want to hear that another Nigerian inmate died in Ethiopian prison,” the minister said.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu further decried the continued delay in returning monies seized from Nigerian businessmen by the Ethiopian government even after the country’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, had at the 40th Session of the Executive Council of the African Union held in February 2022, granted amnesty to all African travellers whose monies were seized at the Bole International Airport, due to non-declaration of the amount over and above three thousand US Dollars, as provided by then Ethiopian law.

She regretted that of the 25 Nigerians whose monies were seized as at the time, only 15 had been approved for refund, due to the stringent condition put by the Ethiopian side for the refunds. Even at that, only two persons had actually been refunded their seized money.

The minister cited the pathetic case of one Mr. Francis Chukwuma Uzoh whose US$70,000 was seized by the Ethiopian authorities, saying that Francis was yet to be refunded since 2022 despite meeting all the conditions.

“Consequently, Mr. Francis has become desolate, homeless, abandoned by family, hugely indebted and a shadow of his former self,” she said.

The minister, therefore, urged the Ethiopian envoy to press for a last chance for the Ethiopian government to refund Mr. Francis his $70,000 while he is still alive, “so they don’t use the money to bury him when he has gone.”

Additionally, the minister noted that visa waiver for holders of official and diplomatic passports was tied to the Bilateral Air Services Agreement, BASA, signed by the two countries.

Following what Nigerians faced at Addis Ababa, Odumegwu-Ojukwu accused Ethiopia of unilaterally withdrawing from the MoU without notifying Nigeria.

According to her, it is of great concern because Addis is a hub and many Nigerians have adopted Ethiopian Airline as the airline of choice.