By Leke Adeseri, News Editor, with Agency reports
Bonn, Germany—NO fewer than 550 Nigerians are now languishing in various prisons in Germany, Mr. Abdul Rimdap, the Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, has said.

Rimdap, said this in an interview, yesterday, in Bonn, adding that the Nigerians were jailed  after being convicted for various offences.

He said the offences included falsification of documents, living on expired visas and living in the country without valid documents.

The envoy said no fewer than 2,000 other Nigerians were also in detention awaiting trial.

Rimdap said most of those convicted or under detention were not found to be involved in violent crimes or serious crimes such as credit card fraud, drugs trackkicking and prostitution.

He said German authorities were strict in enforcing the laws and advised Nigerians to ensure that they do not run foul of the law.

The Ambassador said the embassy was finding it difficult to provide consular services to those in prisons or detention centres as most of them reject visitations by embassy staff.

“If prisoners do not give the prison authority their consent, visitors cannot visit them. There is no way we can visit them, so they make things difficult for us.

“Recently, we wrote a letter to the foreign ministry  telling them that we wanted to see the prisoners, but the authority refused, saying the prisoners must give their consent before visitors can be allowed,” he said.

He, however, said no fewer than 20 Nigerians were  deported from 2009 to this year.
“Before now, there was massive deportation of Nigerians, but the numbers have reduced due to the intervention by the embassy,” he added.

German imports N205 bn raw materials

Meantime, the German government is said to have imported raw materials worth more than 1.3 billion euro (about N205 billion) from Nigeria in 2009, according to Rimdap.

He  said in Berlin that the products included crude oil, liquefied natural gas, precious stones and agricultural items such as cereals and cocoa.

He, however, said that in the same year, Germany exported goods such as machinery, vehicle spare parts, chemicals and electrical goods worth one billion euro (about N187 billion) to Nigeria.

The ambassador said Nigeria was Germany’s second most important trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa.

According to him, the two countries enjoy cordial relations and have benefited from each other over the years.

Rimdap said that in December 2008, German imports from Nigeria totalled N39.5 billion, while the European country’s  exports to Nigeria stood at N27.6 billion.