The National Economic Council (NEC) has unfolded new measures to tackle the nagging problem of prison congestion in the country.
One of the measures recommended by NEC is for state governors to sign more death warrants for the execution of condemned prisoners waiting on the death row.
So, for death row inmates and various condemned prisoners, the hangman may soon knock on their doors – to put them to death.
As an alternative to death sentence, the Council affirmed that the governors may wish to commute the death-row inmates’ sentences to jail terms.
These decisions were reached on Thursday at the NEC) meeting presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the State House, Abuja.
Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, who spoke on the outcome of the NEC meeting with State House correspondents, said the decisions were taken after the Council was briefed by the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, and the Comptroller-General of Prisons, on the conditions of the nation’s prisons.
The pathetic scenario painted in the presentation showed the need for an emergency declaration on the state of Nigerian prisons, Governor Umahi said.
He said that one of the key recommendations was that governors should be encouraged to sign death warrants of those convicted with capital punishment; and in conjunction with state chief judges, free as many as possible under the prerogative of mercy.
“Governors should do a number of things to decongest the prisons. Chief Judges of states should frequently visit prisons. Governors should either sign death sentences of those condemned or commute them because it is risky leaving them after their trial had been concluded. NEC resolved that there should be an emergency situation on prisons,” Umahi stated.
He further said that NEC tasked governors to deploy all powers within their reach to salvage prisons including the engagement of private sector participation, especially as some of the inmates could be engaged in agriculture.
According to him, “the Minister of Interior and CG, Nigeria Prisons, briefed the Council on the state of prisons and inmates throughout the country. The situation they painted was quite pathetic. I must confess that I visited the prisons in my state for the first time recently after a jail break and what l saw was terrible.”
“So, it was agreed that governors should on their own develop initiatives to manage the prisons. For instance, some have transferred prisons from urban centres. NEC agreed that governors should support the Federal Government on prison matters.”
“States that have the capacity to build prisons should go ahead and do so, including the involvement of private sector participation. The minister said that 70 per cent of inmates are awaiting trial.
“Some of them can be converted to labour use. Ten per cent of them are condemned, meaning 20 per cent are true prisoners. Some of the prisoners should be engaged in agricultural programme”.
Meanwhile, the governor said he was misquoted in news reports that he opposed the agitation for restructuring of the country because Ebonyi is not yet economically viable to seek independence.
The governor was reported to have declared that he was neither in support of the agitation for Biafra nor the call for restructuring because the two proposals were not going to benefit the state and its people.
However, Umahi told journalists that he neither said so nor meant such, and declared that negative social media reports were destroying Nigeria.
Also at the NEC meeting, Osinbajo extended indefinitely the Budget Support Facility/Financial Bailout to state governments which elapsed last month.
President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the bailout to enable the states meet their financial obligations, especially salary arrears to workers in the face of dwindling oil revenue and the attendant economic recession the country.
The N510 billion Facility, a 12-month standby loan, was started in June 2016, with a monthly amount of N50 billion in the first three months and N40 billion for the remaining nine months to 35 states.
Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State told State House correspondents that the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, announced the approval of the extension of the facility at the NEC parley.
He said: “Although the finance minister presented that the Budget Support Loan Facility has been fully disbursed, she announced that the Acting President has directed that the facility continues until other states’ claims are paid.”
He also disclosed that the Accountant-General of the Federation gave an update on the National Stabilisation Fund, the Natural Resources Development Fund and the Ecological Fund.
The accounts currently stand as follows: Stabilisation Balance as at June 28, 20117, (N28.5billion); Natural Resources Development Fund (N87.6billion) and the Ecological Fund (N28.9billion).
On the probe of remittances to the Excess Crude Account, which currently stands at $2.3 billion, Dankwambo said that about 18 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were being audited, while 10 others had been completed.
A more comprehensive report on the exercise, which started last year, would be expected at next NEC meeting, he stated.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) briefed the NEC on the implementation of the SDGs in Nigeria.
The updates on SDGs’ implementation included careful planning to move MDGs to SDGs; integration of SDGs into the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (NERGP); rollout of SDGs Needs Assessment and costing exercise; data mapping and determination of SDGs baseline indicators to benchmark; among others.
Also, the Director-General of National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr. Sani Aliyu, briefed the NEC on its activities, disclosing that an estimated three million Nigerians are living with HIV/AIDS.
It was also learnt that some states have budget allocation for HIV programmes but not released.
Issues of HIV needs to be prioritised while at least 0.5% to 1% of monthly Federation Allocation to States is to be set aside for financing the implementation of the HIV/AIDS programme.
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