Rauf Aregbesola, minister of
interior, says a committee has been set up to look into how the federal
government can decongest the prisons in six months.
Speaking on Wednesday at a public
hearing organised by the national assembly joint committee on appropriation,
the minister said the committee has started working with the office of the
attorney-general of the federation (AGF) to achieve the target.
He said the move is to reduce the
pressure on its facilities and improve their conditions.
Aregbesola said about 90 percent
of inmates awaiting trial are said to have violated state laws, hence the need
to carry state governors along in the process.
“In no distant future, we will
reduce the issue of awaiting trial considerably; as we are also working with
the governors on that,” the minister said.
“Close to 90 percent of the
awaiting trial inmates are violators of state laws and so are essentially the
responsibility of the various state governments.
“So, we need to carry them along
in devising strategies to decongest the facilities. In six months, this will be
put behind us.”
The minister also said there are
75,000 inmates in prisons across the country.
Aregbesola’s declaration is
coming a few days after an investigation exposed the rot
in the prisons system.
Fisayo Soyombo, an investigative
journalist, spent eight days as an inmate of Ikoyi Prison tracking corruption
in the prison establishment.
He documented “drug abuse,
sodomy, bribery, pimping and cash and carry operations” at the facility.
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