Rauf Aregbesola, the interior minister, has stated that he will meet with state governors to discuss a mass release of at least 30% of prisoners from detention facilities around the nation.
Aregbesola announced this on the News Agency of Nigeria Forum in Abuja on Sunday.
The minister claimed that since more than 90% of the prisoners were being jailed for breaking various state laws, there was a need for the interface.
Aregbesola added that more than 70% of the current 75,635 detainees were awaiting trial.
He claimed that as a result, they were still subject to the legal authority of their respective states.
The minister continued by saying that some of the prisoners did not need to remain in jail, making it imperative to decongest the nation’s 253 detention facilities.
Therefore, according to Aregbesola, all parties involved must collaborate to create a “more structured criminal justice administration, or we would just be left with clogged and overloaded institutions.”
He claims that some of the prisoners who are awaiting trial have been there longer than the maximum sentence allowed by the law for the offense they were detained for.
Aregbesola promised that the interior ministry was taking all necessary steps to clear the correctional facilities of congestion.
He claimed that the meeting with the governors will aid in a critical evaluation of the issue and remove inmates who ought to have been released from the system.
