FG’s Committee Frees 3,924 Inmates From Correctional Centres – Malami

In its bid to decongest and bring reforms to correctional centres nationwide, the Attorney -General Of The Federation And Minister Of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN , has said that 3,924 Nigerians have been released since 2017 through the coordination of the Presidential Committee on Correctional Service Reform and Decongestion.

Malami gave the remark on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the National Summit on Correctional Reforms.

“Under the authority of the directives of Mr. President, I inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Correctional Service Reform and Decongestion in 2017 to drive the identified measures to fast-track the decongestion and reform of the Nigerian Correctional Centres.

“In furtherance of its cardinal mandate, the Committee has been able to amongst several others achieve the following –

“Visited and appraised about thirty-nine (39) Correctional Centres in eighteen (18) States. A total number of Three Thousand, Nine Hundred and Twenty-Four (3,924), have so far, been released during these visits via payment of fines for convicts for minor offences with the option of fine who are unable to pay the fines, general review of peculiar cases and advocacy overtures to relevant authorities. The payments were made possible through the financial assistance of the office of the HAGF, state Governments, religious bodies and NGOs,” he said.

He also added that the committee had secured release of 7,000 inmates from custodial centers in line with guidelines outlined by the President Muhammadu Buhari.

He observed that the ministry was exploring technological innovations to “promote effective information management in criminal justice administration, decongestion of Correctional Centres and non-custodial measures”.

Furthermore, the AGF assured that federal government would partner with stakeholders in driving the needed change in all arms of the justice sector.

“Another milestone in the national strategy towards the Decongestion and Reformation of Correctional Centres nationwide, is the on-going collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Justice, Relevant Justice stakeholders and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) with focus on implementing Amnesty and Decongestion for Juveniles deprived of their liberty during the COVID-19 Pandemic and beyond.

“A critical outcome of the National Workshop on the Effective Implementation of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act (NCSA), 2019 hosted by the Federal Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the Committee in November 2019, is the development of a draft implementation Strategy for the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019, currently being perfected as well as ‘the harmonized FCT Sentencing (Custodial and Non-custodial) Practice Direction 2020, which will be unveiled at this event, along with the Maiden Edition of the Correctional Justice Reform Magazine of the Ministry,” he added.