FG approves prisoner swap deal, fugitive repatriation with Spain

On Monday, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, announced that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), under President Bola Tinubu, approved a prisoner swap policy with Spain.

The FEC meeting also focused on comprehensive crime-fighting and anti-corruption strategies.

Fagbemi, while briefing State House correspondents on the memos presented at FEC, said: “As you all know, there are three stages. The first one is the investigation aspect. The second one is the prosecution and sentencing and [the third is] ensuring that the sentence is served as deterrence. Before now, there have been what you called trans-border inhibitions, where somebody who is wanted in Nigeria, for example, goes beyond the borders of Nigeria. To get him arrested, suppose you need any document that is not within but you know where he can be reached. How do we get this document? Somebody is trying to escape justice; how do you get him back? And after sentencing, some countries have a policy that ‘Okay, let the convict come back home’.

“These three stages are being addressed. We will do it country by country; but for today, the ones dealt with were the ones concerning the Kingdom of Spain―Nigeria and the Kingdom of Spain. So we have three memos in quick succession, one dealing with the exchange of information, including investigation.

“We have an agreement that was signed way back in June 2022. After the agreement, what the law requires is that you come back and have it ratified. And it was presented to Council today.”

He continued: “The second one had to do with the exchange of assistance to bring back fugitives, people trying to escape from justice. Either you bring them to justice or take justice to them. This second aspect of this mutual assistance has been ratified.

“The third in the series has to do with, ‘after conviction, what do we do?’ Some will say, ‘Okay, if you have these convictions, can you bring the person back home to serve his sentence here?’

“So we have an agreement that we can exchange persons sentenced to serve their sentence here or there. This has significantly shown that there is no hiding place for criminals. If they go outside the shores of the country, they can rest assured that the arm of the law is long enough to reach them.”