195 Nigerians in Moroccan prisons for drug-related crimes, says envoy

Baba Garba, the Nigerian Ambassador to Morocco, says there are 195 Nigerians in prisons in Morocco for drug-related crimes.

NAN reports that the ambassador said the government does not have a prisoner transfer agreement with Morocco.

“We have the menace of Nigerians that come from Latin America, transiting Morocco that are carriers of drugs,” he said.

“We have a number of them in prisons purely for drugs; I send the figures officially to government, there are 195 of them in prisons.

“We have a bi-national commission and we are proposing end of June or the first week of July because of the Ramadan.

“It is at this forum we will talk to our Moroccan counterparts about a prisoner transfer agreement but at this point we do not have such agreement.”

The envoy, however, said there were excellent relations both countries adding that the outcome of the visit of the Moroccan king to Nigeria in 2016 had boost bilateral relations.

“Since 2017 up on till now, we have not had farmers complain about shortage of fertiliser in NIgeria; this is one of the gains,” he said.

“We have had many agreements signed with Morocco in different sectors and we are pursuing them.

“We have have had agreements signed in transport, climate change, lagoon and river control.”

He said an average of 50 students from Nigeria were being offered scholarships by the Moroccan government.

The ambassador said: “Some students are trained in Qur’anic recitation and trained to be Imams; here the king is a leader of the faith and every mosque here is well documented and there are checks and balances.

“If we have such systems imported in our country it will checkmate certain things.”

According to the envoy, no less than 3000 Nigerians live in Morocco.