President Bola Tinubu has dispatched a high-level delegation to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to secure the immediate repatriation of nearly 300 Nigerian nationals serving prison sentences in the country.

Sources within the Presidency and the foreign service familiar with the directive said the prisoners are held in deteriorating conditions at Kaliti, a maximum-security prison in Addis Ababa.

Tinubu mandated the delegation, which includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ethiopian government that would allow the prisoners to be transferred to Nigeria to complete the remainder of their sentences in Nigerian correctional facilities.

According to one source, the directive came directly from the President, with the delegation departing for Addis Ababa on Tuesday.

“We are leaving because we have prisoners. The President has directed us to get these prisoners back.

“He directed that we go there right away with the Attorney-General, get an MOU quickly signed, so that these prisoners can be transported back to Nigeria, so that they can serve out the rest of their sentences here,” the official revealed.

A second source said the urgency was driven by the deteriorating physical condition of the inmates.

"They are dying. We have almost 300 prisoners in the open-air prisons in Ethiopia,” the official said.

The directive marks the first direct intervention of President Bola Tinubu on the crisis, which has dragged on through several diplomatic channels for over three years.

According to official Ministry of Foreign Affairs figures, more than 270 Nigerians are currently serving prison sentences in Ethiopia, largely for drug-related offences.

Most are held at Kaliti Prison in Addis Ababa, where, since 2019, advocacy groups have alleged overcrowding, starvation, lack of medical care and physical punishment.

On March 12, 2023, Chizoba Favour Eze, a Nigerian inmate at Kaliti Prison, died following alleged brutalisation by prison officials.

Another Nigerian, Uchenna Nwanneneme, died from tuberculosis on September 21, 2023, reportedly after receiving little or no medical attention.

A third Nigerian, Basil Lawrence Ilobi, also died in custody.