The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has announced that the Federal Government will launch an investigation into the death of a Nigerian citizen, Chizoba Favour Eze, who passed away while in an Ethiopian prison.
What happened: Eze reportedly suffered injuries after being brutalized by police officers at the Kaliti prison, a maximum security facility in Addis Ababa, where she was serving a jail term.
How it was confirmed: The news was reported by multiple sources, and the NiDCOM confirmed the incident in a statement released by Mr. Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, NIDCOM, in Abuja on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.
What Nigeria is doing about this: According to the statement, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairman of the NiDCOM, stated that the commission was liaising with the Nigerian mission in Ethiopia to investigate the circumstances surrounding Eze's death.
Dabiri-Erewa also expressed her concern regarding the conditions of Nigerian prisoners in Ethiopia, most of whom are serving jail terms for drug-related offenses.
The NiDCOM Chief revealed that the Nigerian Mission in Ethiopia had proposed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Correctional Service on the transfer of sentenced persons to Nigeria. However, she noted that the Nigerian Government was awaiting a response from Ethiopia.
Dabiri-Erewa expressed her condolences to the family of the deceased, who reportedly died on Sunday, March 12, 2023
What you should know: She added that although the Ethiopian Government had granted amnesty to Nigerian prisoners in 2019, several of them still returned to the country and allegedly committed similar drug-related crimes, resulting in their re-arrest.