FG working on custodial centres’ completion, says minister

The Federal Government has said it is working to ensure the speedy completion of the 6,000-capacity custodial centres in Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

This, it said, would mitigate congestion in some custodial centres and facilitate the humane treatment of inmates.

On September 12, 2022, the former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, had said that the FG would complete the 9,000-capacity facilities in Kano, Rivers and Abuja by the end of the year.

However, former President Muhammadu Buhari only commissioned the 3,000-capacity custodial centre in Janguza, Kano State, on May 26, 2003, just days before leaving office.

Nevertheless, the new minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, noted that the decongestion of prisons was very important to President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Tunji-Ojo announced that he had already set up committees to figure out the reasons for the congestion in the country’s correctional centres, and how to reduce the numbers.

According to the Nigerian Correctional Service, there were a total of 80,804 inmates across the custodial centres in the country as of November 13, 2023.

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