From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LAC) said it is representing 74 inmates in Kuje and Suleja Correctional Centres, following its visit to the facilities.
It said the inmates to he represented committed crimes ranging from fraud, manslaughter, theft, criminal breach of trust, rape, among others.
The affected inmates who gave their consent for representation by signing the questioner form have all been assigned with a lawyer for representation in various courts within the Federal Capital Territory.
Director in charge of Criminal Justice Department, Abdul Fattah Adewale Bakre, who led the team to the facilities, said: “What is worrisome, is the age brackets of those alleged offenders. About 50 of them are under 20 years of age with minor offence.
“Also, there are those within the cell who have been granted bail, but could not meet up with their bail conclusion some as little as N10,000, #20,000 etc.
“Another group are those that after their release, within 3-4 months intervals, you find them in custody again. Based on this, the Deputy-controptler of Corrections, Kuje, after ordering that the warrant be made available to LAC, advised that while trying to release them, LAC should also think of a way to settle them and integrating them into the society either through skills acquisition and provision of statar packs.
“Research shows that Legal Aid Council have in the past assisted the released inmates when her budgetary allocation was something to write home about but these days the funds are not available as the council is battling with her lean allocation to see that it lives up to expectation as mandated in the legal aid act of 2011.
“The federal government has put everything in place hence, those that are serving various terms in custody need to uplifts themselves.
“In Kuje and Suleja, there are various skills acquisition centres such as shoe /bag making workshop, carpentry/tailoring workshop etc. Further more, there are Open University Centre, NECO and WAEC centres and full time secondary school.
“The only challenge is the issue of awaiting trial inmates which the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria remains the official voice of the voiceless citizens of Nigeria.”