March 23, (THEWILL) – The disclosure by the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, that the Federal Government freed over 4,000 inmates in the correctional facilities, as part of decongestion efforts is a welcome development.
According to him, the measure is part of the ongoing efforts of his ministry to remove the burden of rising costs of feeding inmates, which runs into N3.3 billion every two months. Besides, the identified inmates are detainees as a result of minor fines.Only recently, the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS, raised the alarm that its budget is being harshly affected by the huge cost of feeding inmates owing to congestion caused by court delays and indifference by governors to sign death warrants of convicted felons.
According to the NCoS the number of awaiting-trial inmates which stood at 48,932, in January 2025 jumped to 53,254. What is more, the recent increase in feeding allowance for the inmates from N750 to N1,125 per day, raised the feeding budget of the Service to over N3.3bn.
But the point is all of this is that Nigerians are still being detained for minor fines and death row convicts are left in correctional services without follow-up action on the part of relevant authorities.
Indeed, the NCoS say that there are about 3,688 prisoners on death row across its various facilities in the country.
This number, according to the acting Comptroller General of the NCoS, Sylvester Nwakuche, is too high and counter -productive.
He blamed state governors for the problem because many of them have refused to sign the death warrants of inmates on death row, thus leading to the further congestion of its facilities nationwide.Giving the numbers, he said that inmates on death row are now 3,688 from 3,590 in September 2024.
He said, “State governors are part of our challenges. They refuse to execute inmates on death row; neither do they commute their death sentences to life imprisonment. If they commute death sentences to life imprisonment, it is easier for us to distribute them to rural correctional facilities which are not as congested as those in urban correctional facilities.
“This is because the issue of congestion is a major urban phenomenon. Our correctional facilities in urban centres are more congested than those in rural areas. If we commute them to life sentencing, we will be able to distribute them equitably.”
Mr. Nwakuche, who made this disclosures during an appearance at the Senate last year, lamented that the situation has become so dire that he had to seek the support of sister security agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Police, the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission in the management of inmates across the country.
Without mincing words, he blamed the slow pace of the judicial process in addressing the challenges faced by the NCoS, saying that, “If they have been sentenced, some of them will not spend up to two to three years in prison. But they have stayed in our facilities for six years. For me, such persons should be discharged and acquitted. That is one area we must collaborate to decongest our facilities.
These statements are not only disturbing, but they are also a sad commentary on the administration of the justice system prevailing in the country. It is trite to repeat that congestion of correctional service centres by awaiting trial inmates and convicts have been plague in the country until the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 was signed into law. It contains provisions to address all the challenges put before the Senate Committee on Interior and yet, no tangible action has been taken by the relevant authorities 10 years down the line.
It is on this note that we support some of the suggestions put forward by Mr. Nwakuche, at least in the interim.
We call on reluctant governors to heed the acting NCoS Comptroller General’s suggestion to commute the death sentence of convicts, if they will not sign the death warrant. This would enable the Service to decongest the centres through the distribution of the convicts to NCoS facilities nationwide. More importantly, the judiciary should speed up the trial process of prisoners. It is scandalous to say let alone verify that Nigerians are still held in correctional services for years without trial. Where then is justice?
Finally, we implore the Minister of Interior to sustain his ministry’s policy of decongesting the correctional centres regularly so that those who are unjustly held have the chance of breathing fresh air again.
