London, Oct 15 (IANS): Hundreds of Nigerian criminals jailed in Britain are all set to be sent back to their native country to serve their remaining prison terms under a deal to be signed between the two countries shortly.

Talks are on to reach a compulsory prisoner transfer agreement, which could see over half of the 500 criminals from Nigeria currently in British jails repatriated, Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

The British prisons system suffers from a piquant situation where over 12 percent of the inmates are from overseas.

Prisons minister Jeremy Wright has said "more foreign prisoners must serve their sentences in their own countries".

British Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to end the practice where the British taxpayer is forced to pick up the bill for criminals who have no business to stay in Britain.

Britain has even made it clear that it would pay to build new prisons in countries like Nigeria as part of its bid to speed up the process of sending foreign criminals home.

Up to one million pounds have been promised to upgrade Nigerian jails, including a new wing at Kirikiri Prison in Nigeria's most populous city of Lagos.