• The congestion is an indication of the moral decadence in the society- Archbishop Martins
• Blame the judiciary system – Aregbesola
• Inconsistency in appearance of police officers in courts prolongs trials – Odumosu
• This problem requires a multi-dimensional approach – Nababa
• Death penalty not the solution, declare state of emergency in Nigeria’s criminal justice system – Adebisi
By Neta Nwosu
The revamping of Nigeria’s Correctional Centres has over the years dominated the discourse space. Top on the overhaul list is the decongestion of the Correctional Centres. But one of the measures issued by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior to implement death warrants of 3,008 inmates on death row to decongest the Correctional Centres has met tough resistance. Sir William Adebisi, Metropolitan Grand Knight, Lagos Metropolitan Council of the Order of Knights of St. Mulumba, Nigeria (KSM) has kicked over the call of the Interior Minister to execute the concerned inmates, an issue that has continued to attract disapproval. The Lagos Metropolitan Grand Knight (MGK) disclosed this in a statement on Thursday at the KSM Lagos Metropolitan Council Policy Advocacy Conference in Lagos.
The Interior Minister had on July 24, requested Governors to sign the death warrant of inmates on death row as a means of decongesting the Correctional Centres nationwide. Sir Adebisi said such a step is contrary to current governments’ attitude across the world which believes that death sentence runs counter to correctional measures. Rather, the MGK has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the administration of criminal justice system. Sir Adebisi while delivering his welcome address said “The Minister himself had on Friday, July 24, 2021, while speaking at the inauguration of the Osun State Command headquarters complex of the Nigeria Correctional Service in Osogbo, urged State Governors to sign death warrants for 3,008 convicts to decongest correctional facilities nationwide.
However, as Yorubas will say “ori bi be ko ni ogun ori fi fo’ meaning that the cure for head-ache is not by severing the head from the body. This is our own belief.” He noted that Nigeria should learn from Malawi and SierraLeone that abolished the death penalty, stressing that, “The call for execution by the minister comes at a time when many countries across the globe and particularly in Africa, continue to move away from using the death penalty owing to its injustices. Just recently, SierraLeone became the latest nation to abolish the death penalty after Malawi.
“Statistics released by the Minister clearly show that congestion in Nigerian prisons is a result of a high number of awaiting trial inmates and not the minority population on death row. In our view, a more constructive approach would be a declaration of a state of emergency in Nigeria’s criminal justice system with programmes and initiatives rolled out to tackle the slow pace of justice delivery in Nigeria. This should be done with a view to reducing awaiting trial population, many of whom have spent eight years or more awaiting trial.” Emphasising that the Lagos Metropolitan Council of the Order of the Knights of St. Mulumba, Nigeria is determined to tackle the decongestion of the Correctional Centres, Sir Adebisi recalled, “ The Knights of St. Mulumba, Lagos Metropolitan Council has been involved in the various areas with the prisons now renamed Correctional Centres in Lagos area, including Ogun State.
We arrange for our members to visit the Centres at least once a month, pray with the inmates and give food and donate other needs. We arrange through the necessary authorities to free inmates; we have been involved for several years in the payment towards the release of inmates in the case of fines and judgment fees and a host of others. We built a Chapel at the Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre, Lagos for the spiritual wellbeing of inmates and worship with them every month. We pay WAEC fees for inmates to assist in their educational attainment while serving in the Correctional Centers.” The Policy Advocacy Conference organised by the Order of the Knights of St. Mulumba, Lagos Metropolitan Council, as part of activities marking its diamond jubilee, attracted high ranking clerics as well as officials of the Correctional Service, the Police, the Judiciary, including the Department of Public Prosecutions, High Court Judges and Magistrates, as well as Lawyers.
In a same vein, Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, the Catholic Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos described congestion of the Centres as wor risome and an indication of the moral decadence in the society, noting that the issue would continue to escalate, if the relevant steps are not taken immediately by government and families to respectively fix the Society and family units. The Archbishop who was represented by Rev. Msgr. Pascal Nwaezeapu said resolution of the issue starts with grooming the family unit properly. “It says a lot about the value we have placed on human life, and as long as things continue to go this way, we will continue to have this problem; so, the solution is, we need to fix human beings, and we need to ask how to do this by fixing the family, because individuals come from families, how do we fix education in Nigeria and beyond that, we need to promote justice, show more love, more concern for the well being of others,” Most Rev. (Dr.) Martins recommended.
The Interior Minister exonerated its Ministry of the Correctional Centres’ congestion issues while delivering his Keynote Address at a policy advocacy conference entitled “Decongestion of Correctional Centres: Status Quo”. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who was represented by one of his Special Advisers, Mr. Suleiman Tala blamed the congestion in the country’s Correctional Centres on the judiciary system, explaining that the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCOS) is neither allowed by law to reject inmates sentenced to Correctional Centres or to release them at will, as he also stressed that the primary responsibility of NCOS is to hold offenders pending the adjudication of their cases before a law court.
He said, “It is important for the public to be aware that the NCOS and the Ministry of Interior are trying their best to tackle the issue from different angles as the length of time the inmates stay at the custodian centre is not determined by NCOS but by the justice system. I may not be able to reiterate exactly what the challenges are with the judiciary, however, as it affects the NCOS we are doing all we can not to compromise the traditional responsibility of the NCOS.” Reaffirming the Ministry’s support for the Nigerian Correctional Services’ mandate to reform, rehabilitate and reintegrate inmates back into the society, Aregbesola’s speech further read, “The Ministry of Interior has an oversight function of the NCOS, while the NCSO has the responsibility to keep inmates in human conditions as much as possible, even as it follows up with processes of rehabilitation and preparations for life after incarceration.”
Aregbesola disclosed that the Federal Government has given approval for the construction of 3,000 capacity custodial centres in the six geo-political zones to tackle the overcrowding of the Correctional Centres. The Interior Minister further revealed that many inmates had been enrolled for degree programmes in tertiary institutions. “A total of 3,000 inmates are currently undergoing different degree programmes with the National Open University, while 50 are undergoing National Certificates in Education at Yewa College of Education, Ogun State. At present, the NCOS has 12 Special Study Centres in different custodial facilities across the country. Since the inception of the collaboration between the Correctional service and the National Open University, a total of 36 inmates have graduated in different fields of study such as Conflict and Peace Resolution, Political Science, Sociology, Guidance and Counseling, among others,” he said.
The Comptroller General of Corrections, Haliru Nababa, represented by the Assistant Comptroller General, Daniel Odharo, regretted that overcrowding phenomenon has continued to make mockery of their efforts to provide safe custody, reform and rehabilitate inmates remanded or convicted by a court of jurisdiction. He said, “This problem no doubt requires a multi-dimensional approach from the national to sub-national governments.” Nababa noted that in recent times, the Federal Government under President Buhari has taken some bold steps to address the challenges. “In the last five years, the Service has purchased a total of 504 vehicles and distributed them accordingly for operational purposes in a bid to ease movement of inmates to court as and when due. “Also in the area of infrastructure, the Service has received a budgetary allocation for infrastructural upgrade, including the construction of 3,000 capacity ultra-modern custodial centres in the six geo-political zones of the country.
That of the North-West located in Janguza in Kano is close to 95% completion. Similar projects are going on in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja for the North-Central and Bori in Rivers State for the SouthSouth. “Plans are also under way to extend the facility to the remaining three geo-political zones. Furthermore, Mr. President in furtherance to custodial service reformation effort, signed the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019 with adequate provisions to address the problem of overcrowding in our facilities.” Representing the Inspector General of Police, Baba Usman, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, confessed that the police is also partly responsibility for the congestion. He explained, “Inconsistency in the appearance of Police officers to give evidence at trials has been identified as one of the alleged causes of prolonging trial but the IGP has mandated that Officers must attend court cases as at when due.
This has increased the appearances.The police are being hampered by a high level of distrust between the citizens and their police institution.” Odumosu said that the Nigerian Police force under the leadership of IGP Alkali Baba Usman, has consistently re-emphasised on innovations and modern approaches to improve Standard Operating Procedure and service delivery as well as put in place proactive and intelligence driven security strategies to nip crime in the bud in order to ease the burden on the already overstretched criminal justice system and ensure reduction in number of inmates in the Correctional Centres. He itemized ten proactive steps amid others that are daily being put in placed by the Force towards ensuring the decongestion of inmates in the Correctional services facilities. Odumosu further stated, “Having come to the realization that valuable time is being wasted on minor cases which may be disposed of by the Police; the Inspector General of Police has directed all Police Formations to ensure that the Criminal justice system is not further over-laboured with minor cases by granting administrative bails. This is aimed at reducing the number of inmates in the Correctional Centres.
“ In order to enhance speedy trial, the Nigeria Police has adopted the use of technology at interrogation rooms as well as modern facilities to obtain statements. This will assist in gathering incontrovertible evidence to facilitate quick dispensation of justice thereby reducing the period of awaiting trials which by extension will aid decongestion of our Correctional Centres facilities. “Another proactive innovation of Police under the leadership of IGP Usman, is the establishment of a pool of Police prosecutors and legally minded personnel of the Force who are trained as prosecutors. This is aimed at increasing professional and more speedy representation by the Police at trials, thereby removing undue delays which often soar the number of awaiting trials inmates. “Scientific documentation and technologically enhanced exhibits keeping is another strategy adopted by the Police in order to reduce prolong trial which in effect will aid decongestion of Correctional Centres facilities.
“ Amicable, out of Court settlement and peaceful resolution of conflict/crisis, otherwise known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism is being encouraged across Police Formations”, he said. The two panel discussions on ‘Why are the Correctional Centres congested’ and ‘How can we decongest the Correctional Centres’ and participants made recommendations for inmates who had spent over five years in custody, including, suspended sentencing, community sentencing and dismissal of minor cases. The Knights of St. Mulumba, Lagos Metropolitan Council were applauded for organizing the policy advocacy conference on decongestion of the Correction Centres. The Minister of Interior, Inspector General of Police, Controller-General of Corrections and other dignitaries at the event affirmed the conference is a right step in the right direction in addressing the challenges of congestion of the Correctional Centres in Nigeria. According to Sir Adebisi, the policy advocacy conference is designed to sensitise, educate, and compel government agencies and other influencial stakeholders to implement policies for sound management of Correctional centres.
