Families cry out as inmates suffer dire conditions, court orders ignored, and diplomacy drags on
For over two years, more than 270 Nigerians have remained trapped inside Ethiopia’s notorious Kaliti Prison, enduring harrowing conditions of poor medical care, overcrowding, hunger, and hopelessness. Their plight, once a footnote in diplomatic exchanges, is now an urgent national concern after a Nigerian court ordered their repatriation in 2024. Yet, despite promises, meetings, and memoranda, very little has changed.
The stalled Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on prisoner transfer between Nigeria and Ethiopia has become a symbol of broken diplomacy and of citizens abandoned abroad.
In 2022, Nigeria and Ethiopia began talks on a bilateral prisoner exchange agreement. The deal was straightforward: Nigerians convicted in Ethiopia would serve their sentences back home under Nigerian correctional authorities, while Ethiopians in Nigeria would enjoy the same arrangement.
By 2023, Nigeria had finalized and signed its part of the deal, even incorporating Ethiopia’s suggestions. But the Ethiopian side has not ratified the agreement in its House of Representatives, effectively suspending implementation.
According to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, this delay has left Nigerian prisoners to “suffer avoidable indignities, hunger, and denial of basic rights in foreign custody.”
Kaliti, a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, houses thousands of inmates, including foreigners. Reports from NGOs, family members, and even the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission describe overcrowded cells, inadequate food, poor sanitation, and lack of medical supplies.
Civil society group My Dreamalive Development Foundation revealed that many Nigerian inmates suffer untreated illnesses such as strokes, kidney stones, and infections. Some have died in custody. Relatives who have visited describe skeletal figures in tattered clothes, surviving on one meal a day of watery porridge.
In November 2024, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ruled that the Nigerian government must immediately repatriate at least 270 citizens from Kaliti prison. The court emphasized that the government has a constitutional duty to protect its citizens abroad, particularly when foreign states openly admit they cannot provide welfare such as food and medicine.
Despite this ruling, implementation has stalled. Bureaucratic bottlenecks, diplomatic hesitations, and Ethiopia’s refusal to ratify the MoU have kept the prisoners in limbo.
For the families of those detained, the silence is crushing. Many say they only hear about their loved ones through fellow inmates or occasional letters smuggled out.
Nigeria insists that it has done its part. Ethiopia, meanwhile, says its parliament is still reviewing the agreement.
But Nigerians are losing patience. Civil rights lawyers argue that Nigeria should not wait for Ethiopian ratification to act on its court’s ruling. They suggest leveraging the African Union, ECOWAS, or other diplomatic pressure points.
The Ethiopian Embassy in Abuja has largely remained quiet, only noting that “discussions are ongoing.”
This issue is not isolated. Across the world, thousands of Nigerians are imprisoned abroad from drug-related charges in Asia and the Middle East to immigration violations in Europe and the Americas.
NIDCOM estimates that at least 16,500 Nigerians are in foreign prisons. While some were rightly convicted, many, activists argue, suffer miscarriages of justice due to lack of interpreters, inadequate legal defense, or prejudice against Africans.
Kaliti represents a broader question: How far will Nigeria go to protect its citizens abroad?
On X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and TikTok, Nigerians have turned Kaliti into a rallying point. Hashtags like #BringThemHome and #JusticeForNigeriansInEthiopia have trended intermittently, especially after fresh reports of inmate deaths.
These reactions reflect a growing sense of frustration and abandonment, with ordinary Nigerians identifying personally with the plight of the prisoners “It could be anyone of us.”
Experts and activists propose several urgent steps:
Immediate Repatriation: Nigeria must act on its court’s ruling, even if Ethiopia drags its feet.
Consular Protection: Regular visits, interpreters, and legal aid must be guaranteed for detained citizens.
Regional Diplomacy: Involve the African Union and ECOWAS to pressure Ethiopia.
Transparency: Publish the names and cases of detained Nigerians to avoid invisibility.
Prevention: Educate Nigerians travelling abroad on laws, rights, and consular support.
The plight of Nigerians in Kaliti Prison is not just about international treaties or diplomatic paperwork. It is about human lives hanging in the balance. It is about mothers who go to bed not knowing if their children are still alive. It is about whether Nigerian citizenship offers any real protection once one crosses the border.
Until the government acts decisively, these prisoners will remain symbols of broken promises, caught between two governments unwilling or unable to bring them home.
For ordinary Nigerians, the fear is simple and chilling: “If it can happen to them, it can happen to us.”
