The truly
large percentage of Nigerian inmates who are just awaiting trial in jail, has
been revealed.
Abdulrahman
Dambazau, the Minister of Interior, on Sunday, revealed that more
than 70 percent of inmates in Nigerian prisons were awaiting trial
.
Dambazau
said this when he visited Kano central prison to mark this year’s Eid-el Fitr
celebration.
The minister
said the decision to visit the prison was to show to the inmates that the
government was aware of their existence.
“The high
number of awaiting trial inmates is worrisome, because the prisons are meant
for convicts, but you find out at the end of the day that more than 70 percent
of the people there are awaiting trial inmates,” he said.
Dambazau added
that, “some of the inmates were supposed to stay for few years but ended
up staying for up to 15 years.”
He,
however, lauded the state governor for giving a vast piece of land for the
building of 3,000 capacity modern prison in the state.
Speaking
earlier, Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of the state, who accompanied the
minister, said he had secured the release of 50 inmates and also approved the
release additional 500 inmates in prisons across the state.
He said that
the gesture was part of the activities to celebrate Eid-el-Fitr.
Ganduje said
the beneficiaries were selected based on gravity of their offence and sign of
reformation while in prison.
He advised
them to desist from acts that would warrant them returning to prison.
No comments:
Post a Comment