Britain said on Thursday that it has agreed a new deal with Nigeria that would see them work together to tackle illegal migration and speed up the removal of foreign criminals.

This was disclosed by the UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel in a social media statement on Thursday evening.

The government, which has faced criticism for its recently-announced partnership with Rwanda to send asylum seekers to the East African country, said that the agreement with Nigeria would also promote “shared bilateral economic interests”.

Priti Patel said that the agreement “New Plan for Immigration”, comes after the controversial deportation agreement with Rwanda.

🇬🇧✍🏽🇳🇬 Our new landmark agreement with Nigeria will increase the deportation of dangerous foreign criminals to make our streets & country safer.

And take the fight to the criminal people smugglers together to tackle illegal migration.

Our #NewPlanForImmigration in action.

–  Priti Patel  @pritipatel

The UK Government had earlier agreed to a plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was grounded by a series of last-minute interventions by the European Court of Human Rights and Court of Appeal in London.

Earlier in June, President Muhammadu Buhari visited Spain where he met with the Spanish President, Pedro Sanchez and signed bilateral agreements and MoUs covering areas of prisoner transfer, sports and culture, and the economy.

The Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons will allow Nigerians serving jail terms in Spanish prisons (there are apparently quite a number of them) to complete their sentences back home if they so wish.