Dozens of Nigerians remain incarcerated in Ethiopia as efforts to bring them home drag on, stalled by delays in finalising a key Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both countries.The agreement, which would enable convicted Nigerians to complete their prison terms in Nigeria, has yet to receive approval from the Ethiopian government despite sustained diplomatic talks and growing pressure from civil society organisations. On Wednesday, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, clarified that the holdup was entirely on Ethiopia’s side.
“The ministry has completed all necessary formalities for the Transfer of Sentenced Persons MoU. The delay is from Ethiopia,” she said in a statement issued by her media aide, Magnus Eze.
In 2023, the ministry disclosed that more than 270 Nigerians were serving jail terms in Ethiopia, most of them for drug-related offences. Families and advocacy groups have since continued to raise concerns about the harsh conditions inside detention centres.
Ambassador Onwuka Collins, President-General of the My Dreamalive Development Foundation, condemned the situation last week, describing the prisons as “deplorable.”
“It is heartbreaking that some Nigerians in Ethiopian prisons have already died under these harsh conditions, while others are battling serious illnesses such as kidney stones and stroke. We cannot stand by and watch helplessly as our compatriots waste away in jail without fair trials. Urgent intervention is needed,” he said. Collins also alleged that inmates face “insufficient food, inadequate medical care, negligence, brutal treatment, and extortion by prison officials.”
Despite a Federal High Court ruling in November 2024 directing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission to facilitate the repatriation of Nigerians imprisoned in Ethiopia, progress has remained slow. The court also highlighted Ethiopia’s admission that it lacked the resources to care for foreign inmates.
Fresh pressure mounted on April 17, 2025, when Ambassador Odumegwu-Ojukwu led a delegation to meet with Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Legesse Geremew Haile, urging quick action on the agreement.
“Our people don’t want to hear that another Nigerian inmate has died in an Ethiopian prison,” she said, lamenting what she described as Ethiopia’s lack of political will despite repeated assurances. Ambassador Haile acknowledged the delay, admitting that the MoU was still pending approval by Ethiopia’s House of Representatives.
The prolonged wait has already cost lives. On March 12, 2023, Favour Eze, an inmate at Kaliti Prison in Addis Ababa, reportedly died after being brutalized by prison guards. Another Nigerian, Uchenna Nwanneneme, succumbed to tuberculosis on September 21, 2023, after allegedly being denied proper medical care.
