State Govts To Feed, Accommodate Their Inmates — FG

The Federal Government on Thursday said state govern­ments will now be responsi­ble for the feeding and accom­modation of inmates in their states.

Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made this known on Thursday, at the ongoing two-day high-level conference on corrections and deconges­tion of custodial centres, in Abuja.

The minister said with the amendment of the 1999 consti­tution, which placed the issue of correctional services on the concurrent list, states are empowered to establish their own correctional services and facilities.

Aregbesola said states which do not have correctional facilities would have to pay the Federal Government for the feeding and accommodation of their inmates.

On his part, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, said the Fed­eral Government will spend N22.44 billion in 2023 on the feeding of 75,507 inmates in correctional centres nation­wide.

The inmates are spread in 244 custodial centres nation­wide, the Permanent Secre­tary said during the high-level conference on corrections and decongestion of custodial cen­tres.

Belgore said that 70 percent of the inmates were awaiting trial.

He attributed the high num­ber of awaiting trial inmates to arbitrary arrests, delay in dispensing justice and inabil­ity to meet bail conditions.

The permanent secretary said that the situation had led to the congestion of 82 custodial centres across the country.

“The total number of male inmates are 73,821 and 1,686 are female inmates. Out of the 75,507 inmates, 52,436 are awaiting trial while 23,071 are convicted persons, with 3,322 as condemned inmates on death row.

“The Federal Government budgeted N22.44 billion in the 2023 appropriation to cater for the feeding of inmates. Failure to take action to decongest the custodial centres will come at a cost.

“The effects of overcrowd­ing in the custodial centres have led to huge revenue drain for the Federal Govern­ment.

“Dilapidation of the cen­tres, criminalisation of the society and the inability to sep­arate awaiting trial inmates from convicted persons,” he said.

Belgore said there was need for holistic reform of the country’s correction system, including the modernisation of custodial centres for appro­priate reformation and reha­bilitation of inmates.

He said that stakeholders have since emphasised the need to build new facilities and redesign the bail system.

“I am of the view that the discourse at this conference should allocate more time to address speedy dispensation of justice to reduce number of inmates on awaiting trial.

“In as much as the Minis­try of Interior works tireless­ly to accomplish the goal of achieving greater reduction of number of inmates across our custodial centres, we are determined to ensure that the correctional facilities provide not just a decent accommoda­tion.

“We also ensure that in­mates acquire skills and knowledge to advance their integration into the society when they eventually regain freedom,” Belgore said.

He said that the conference should propose efficient, effec­tive and sustainable solutions to tackle congestion of custo­dial centres and effective im­plementation of non-custodial measures.

The permanent secretary added that strategies should be devised to promote effective reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates.

Belgore said the role of the federal and state governments in correction of inmates should also be examined by the conference.

“The statistics ratio of federal and state offenders is mind boggling and worrisome.

“The federal offenders in the correctional facilities are far less than 10%, leaving the majority of over 90% to state offences,” he said.

Belgore said that im­proved implementation of the criminal justice system and adoption of non-custodi­al measures would help in the decongestion of custodial cen­tres across the nation.