Says over 12,000 inmates freed in six years
Nigerian Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola says he has written to the Nigerian Governors Forum to request a meeting to decongest jails around the country.
The Punch reported on Wednesday that Aregbesola said he will meet with state governors to agree on the mass release of at least 30 percent of convicts from correctional facilities across the country. The minister said that the interface was necessary as more than 90 percent of the inmates were being held for contravening various state laws, noting that over 70 percent of the 75,635 inmates at present were awaiting trial.
He said that the federal offenders in the system were far fewer than 10 percent, adding that the bulk of people in custody were those who had run afoul of state laws. The minister added that the decongestion of the 253 custodial centres nationwide was necessary as some of the inmates have no reason to remain in custody.
12,000 Inmates Released in 6 Years
Meanwhile, the Federal Government on Tuesday revealed that over 12,000 inmates were released from various correctional centres across the country within the last six years in line with the policy of prison decongestion. Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, stated this to members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters during the 2023 budget defense session with the committee.
He said: “When this government came on board in 2015, the problem of prison congestion was at the front burner of national discourse, which made President Muhammadu Buhari set machinery in motion in different ways for the required solution.
“One of such machinery set in motion was a presidential committee set up for prison decongestion which liaised with other stakeholders in the justice sector for a way out. “Aside from the committee, Mr. President himself also wrote letters to the 36 states governors and Chief Judges of the states for required visitations to prisons and exercise of the prerogative of mercies from time to time. ‘In one of such visitations made by the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, about 500 inmates were granted a pardon in one day, the totality of which had led to the release of over 12, 000 inmates across the country within the last six years.
“Special attention was given to awaiting trial persons who constitute the bulk of the inmates across the various correctional centres in the country by taking Magistrates and Judges to the centres for on-the-spot dispensation of Justice.
BACKGROUND
Nigeria’s penitentiary system has long been saddled with the problem of overcrowding. According to the NCS, there are currently 76,213 prisoners across 240 centres nationwide. Approximately 65 percent of the inmates are awaiting trial most of whom have been waiting for their trial for years. Most of the people in Nigeria’s prisons are too poor to be able to pay lawyers, and only one in seven of those awaiting trial have private legal representation. Although governmental legal aid exists, there are too few legal aid lawyers for all the cases that require representation.
The Nigerian correctional services are also faced with the problem of frequent jailbreaks. In the last year, 5,238 inmates have escaped from various prisons across Nigeria, according to Premium Times
