From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
In a bid to decongest 253 custodial facilities nationwide, the Federal Government, yesterday, paid N585 million 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 the amount was paid by corporate organisations.
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 million 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 million 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 said.
In his welcome address, Controller General of Corrections, Haliru Nababa, decried the overcrowding 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,” he said.