From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
In a bid to decongest over 80,804 inmates in 253 custodial facilities nationwide, Federal Government, yesterday, paid N585,000,000.00 for the release of over 4,068 inmates nationwide.
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji Ojo who announced their release, in Abuja, said that a total of N585,000,000.00 was paid by corporate organisations to effect their release.
With 80,804 inmates in 253 custodial centres, the minister stated that the facilities are already overcrowded.
“This shows that our custodial facilities are over-crowded; necessitating this initiative we are flagging off today, which is targeted towards addressing the overcrowding conundrum bedevilling our custodial centres and their reformatory function” he said.
According to him, most of the benefitting inmates at the verge of their freedom are indigents who cannot afford to pay their fines, and are languishing in custody.
“The sum of N585,000,000.00 was raised by philanthropic individuals, groups and corporate bodies, as part of their corporate social responsibility, for this purpose.
“Hence, all inmates in custodial centres who have fines and/or compensation not exceeding N1,000,000.00 are qualified, and would benefit from this gesture. In addition, we are also providing each of them a stipend to enable them return to their communities.
“Suffice it to mention at this point that we are not just releasing them to their fates; we have given them requisite training aimed at impacting their lives functionally and equipping them with the knowledge for their self-reliance upon discharge. The training also covers their civic duties and responsibilities as citizens, and strategies of refraining from re-offending” he noted.
In his welcome address, Controller General of corrections, Haliru Nababa decried the overcrowding rate of custodial centres. He equally noted that the correction is pursuing an act which will authorise non-custodial measures and rejection of inmates where a facility has exceeded its capacity.
“Overcrowding in most of our custodial centres, especially those in metropolitan areas has been a perennial challenge to the service. The payment of fine/compensation for indigent inmates with such options, is not only philanthropic but strategic in reducing the number of persons in custody.
“The emergence of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) Act, 2019 brought a very huge sigh of relief to the service as it encapsulates a good number of provisions geared towards decongesting our custodial facilities, so as to create ample opportunity for humane containment of inmates in line with global best practice.
“Sections 37 (1) and 12(4-12) of the NCoS Act, 2019 which authorises non-custodial measures and rejection of inmates where a facility has exceeded its capacity respectively, are key among the available windows for ameliorating congestion.
While we pursue full implementation of the Act, we have continued to adopt other short-term strategies like engaging the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACON) for pro-bono legal services for inmates as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), for payment of fines.
“As a matter of strong commitment, we have within available resources, continued to provide logistics to facilitate inmates’ access to justice, by ensuring that Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs) are conveyed to court, as and when due. Our Correctional Information Management System (CIMS) has also been handy in keeping track of inmates with pending cases, taking note of specific details, unique to each of them. At the moment, CIMS has been deployed to over 120 custodial centres, across the federation, with great prospects of expansion.
“On the whole, the service has continued to rebrand its operations and re-orient its personnel to truly reflect the new philosophy of corrections, which punctuates behavioural change through reformation and rehabilitation, geared towards smooth reintegration of inmates” he said