66% of Nigerian prisons inmates are awaiting trial - Official
- The Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) has said that majority of the inmates in its facilities are awaiting trial.
- The NPS said 48,527 out of 72,384 are awaiting trial across Nigerian prisons
- NPS said the service has been able to decongest its facilities across the country due to various interventions by stakeholders
The Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) on Sunday, December 17, announced that majority of the inmates in its facilities across the country are awaiting trial.
The NPS said 66% of these inmates are awaiting trial as at Friday, December 15.
Speaking at the quarterly meeting of the Penal Reform Media Network (PERMNET) in Lagos, the controller general of NPS, Jaafaru Ahmed said the current population of these prisoners is at 72,384.
Ahmed represented by the spokesperson for the NPS, Francis Enobore, said 48,527 of the figure above are the awaiting trial inmates - constituting 66% of the total prison population.
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Enobore said the service has been able to decongest its facilities across the country due to various interventions by stakeholders.
He urged more organisations to join relevant government agencies in addressing the issue of overcrowded prison facilities.
Enobore said: “There is a need for more collaboration among the three arms of the criminal justice system to enhance synergy so that anybody brought to prison as awaiting trial, the case will be determined as quickly as possible. The other arms have to do their part so that there would be quick dispensation of justice.”
Commending the Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) for spearheading the campaigns towards the decongestion of prison facilities, Enobore said these efforts yielded results through advocacy campaigns and consultative meetings.
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Also speaking the chief executive officer of PRAWA, Uju Agomoh, said lack of speedy trial contributed to high number of inmates awaiting trial.
Agomoh said: "To address the plight of awaiting trial inmates, the stakeholders should address the seeming lack of speedy trial, overuse of imprisonment by the courts, abuse of arrest powers and bail conditions by the police and inadequate prison structures.”
The quarterly meeting which was hosted by PRAWA suggested that prison facilities should be mandated to only accept persons into detention for whom there is a legal warrant authorising imprisonment and also speeding up the trial process so that detainees spend less time in pre-trial detention.
The meeting further canvassed issues relating to adaptation of criminal procedure codes so that judges rather than prosecutors make the decision about pre-trial detention.
Permnet is a network of journalists and media experts aimed at Creating Awareness, Advocating for Implementation and Replication of Good Prison and Correctional Practices in Nigeria. The network is a major output of the fourth component of the Prison Reform Project.
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Legit.ng earlier reported that 50 inmates have been prepared for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination by the Ikoyi Prisons School.
The school's principal, Idris Ibikunle, said the school was yet to enrol the inmates because it was waiting for others that might be interested in the examination.
Ibikunle said prison officials were committed to ensuring that the inmates had nothing to lose, academically, despite their incarceration.
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Source: Legit.ng
