According to official figures, 69% of Nigeria’s prison detainees are awaiting trial

As of December 18, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) reported that 53,836 inmates were awaiting trial in the country’s 253 correctional facilities.

On Thursday, the service’s spokesperson, Assistant Controller of Corrections (ACC), Abubakar Umar, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Umar said that the summary of the inmates across the country by conviction and those on the awaiting trial list was 77,849 within the period under review.

According to him, the total number of convicted inmates was 24, 013 persons, “adding that the convicted male inmates were 23,569 and 444 convicted females, respectively.

“Statistics show that 69 per cent of the inmates in custodial centres are awaiting trial, while 31 per cent are convicted inmates,” he said.

Umar said that one of the challenges of the service was the issue of dilapidated custodial structures, which resulted in overcrowded and congested spaces within the centres.

He said that the government has recently constructed 3,000 ultra-modern additional custodial facilities across the six geopolitical zones to decongest existing centres.

He said the initiative would help in decongesting the centres as well as enhance the welfare and health of the inmates.

“That of Kano has been inaugurated, and we are expecting speedy completion of the remaining facilities under construction,” he said.

“The ongoing construction of Abuja and the Port Harcourt centres had reached completion stages, and they would soon be inaugurated,” he added.

He appreciated the Federal Government for raising N585 million towards the settlement of fines for inmates in a bid to decongest correctional centres across the country.

He also lauded the recent effort of the federal government to release 4,068 inmates serving various jail terms. (NAN)