A second look at the prisoner swap bill

In the last two decades, entering the UK even for those who have legitimate businesses or reasons have become more and more difficult. But government officials always have their way and many of them abuse the privileges they have by including names of their criminal friends who then travel and give our country a bad […]

In the last two decades, entering the UK even for those who have legitimate businesses or reasons have become more and more difficult. But government officials always have their way and many of them abuse the privileges they have by including names of their criminal friends who then travel and give our country a bad name because they cannot conform with the norms of civilised conduct. On the surface of it, what is wrong with sending back Nigerians who soil the reputation for the rest of us who choose to go through the straight and narrow way in other people’s countries? Perhaps nothing.  Except of course that Nigerian society is not the best to live, and its prisons could obviously not be any better.

However, the issue goes even beyond the conditions in Nigerian prisons. The UK, over the years, has been envisaging this when it included prison reform and rehabilitation as part of its social policy in Nigeria. Truth is, with its modest efforts, Nigerian prisons would never be any closer to conditions of prisoners in the UK. But then, it costs the British tax-payer a zillion times to keep the bad boys out of its towns and cities than it would cost to send dozens back, including their economy fare and the usual dehumanising treatment meted out to criminal deportees some of who end up dead in criminally racist circumstances. With a little handout to the Nigerian prisons, money which, thanks to endemic corruption, would end up in the bank accounts of corrupt officials, Britain hopes to rid itself of the worst of Nigerians.

Into a bottomless pit drops the moral argument that even as prisoners, the convicted have rights in the UK, rights which some free men and women only dream of in their real life. Britain’s argument is that only those who choose to return voluntarily would be returned – that argument is neither here nor there. What choices have they? Those who loot our country blind still find it easy to launder their ill-gotten wealth into British systems. Evidence is accusations against some ex-governors by the EFCC, all in spite of British best intentions.

While it pursued a law to repatriate the murk of the society from its shores, Britain retains the best of the best of Nigeria within its boundaries. There are an estimated five million Nigerians in the United Kingdom. Of course, the figure represents those who may never even claim Nigeria as their country. But the truth is, that Britain has no intention of sending back thousands of Nigeria-trained doctors taking care of its sick, engineers working its industries, university lecturers training its students, social welfare workers and others who contribute to the progress of their society even though most of them still hold Nigerian passports. This is clear double-standard. No society is perfect. If a country benefits, as Britain does, from Nigeria’s best brains, it should appreciate that there are bound to be bad ones and prepare to endure both sides of the same coin.

But by far, the worst shame is to our legislators who succumb to the lobby of foreign governments while serious bills that could transform the society are gathering dust on their shelves. There is no doubt, given the way our politicians grovel at the feet of foreign dignitaries, that this Bill will soon become an Act. All levels of British hierarchy have been here to promote it, with the exception of Her Majesty the Queen. The irony is that no Nigerian minister would have had the unimpeded access we have given to all the officials in the UK’s House of Commons or the House of Lords. Nigerian lawmakers have acted in the best interest of their plea for visas for their siblings, friends and lovers. With such easy access to the highest level of the Nigerian state and its officials, where is national pride and the so-called independence that we exhibit?

The beauty of this bill when it passes is that, some of the big boys who put national pride and sovereignty aside to genuflect before colonial authorities for a bowl of porridge would be caught in its web. If not them, their children and relatives, because the average Nigerian who passes through the UK visa screening process like an elephant through the eye of the needle would mostly respect the laws when they land anywhere in the UK. It is going round now, but it will come round – and as Peter Tosh would say – where you gonna run to?