ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Minister of Interior, Olubumi Tunji-Ojo, says his ministry will in the next one month pay up the fines owed by the over 4,500 inmates at the Correctional Centers, due to inability to pay up.
He gave the assurance on his X handle on Thursday, noting that this will go a long in decongesting the Nigerian Correctional Centers.
Tunji-Ojo further stated that the Federal Government of Nigeria is collaborating with the Private Sector to do this, adding that it will reduce the inmates capacity by over 70 per cent.
Recall that the Minister had stated that the number of inmates in the correctional facilities would reduce to 40 per cent if non-custodial alternatives as provided for in the Correctional Service Act are explored.
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Speaking last month when the Ambassador of the European Union to Nigeria, Samuela Isopi, visited him at his office in Abuja, he said, “Over 70 percent of the 79,000 inmates are awaiting trial.”
The statement partly read, “We have over 4000 inmates in the facilities for their inability to pay various fines. We believe we can reduce the number of inmates in our correctional facilities by about forty percent if we explore non-custodial alternatives as provided for in the Correctional Service Act.
“The European Union is important to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. Our relationship with the EU is historical in terms of but not limited to bilateral support.
“If we are able to solve crime and migration problems in Nigeria, Africa will be better for it. Due to the boundaries, Africa shares with the EU, our problems are more of an EU problem than any other part of the world. And, because we are committed to solving this, we will explore all avenues.”
“We have commenced the process to unbottle the bottlenecks in our international passport application and collection process. Today, we have made huge progress. We are also working on ways to reduce identity theft. We want to make sure the green passport regains its pride and integrity.”