Nigeria frees 4,000 inmates due to logistics

The federal government said logistics was the major reason more than 4,000 inmates were released from prisons across Nigeria..

Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, spoke on Tuesday at the inauguration of 53 operational vehicles purchased for the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

He said those released benefited from the Federal Government Amnesty Programme launched in April 2020.

The minister said the exercise had gone a long way in reducing the number of inmates.

Aregbesola disclosed the NCoS had a deluge of Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs) as against convicts.

He confirmed that about 70 percent of inmates were those awaiting trial, according to NAN.

The minister said slow justice delivery was sometimes caused by lack of vehicles to convey them to court.

“The absence of quick dispensation of justice has been a major drawback to operational efficiency in offenders’ management, often precipitating agitations, jailbreaks as well as escape tendencies.

“Other essential and routine services like taking inmates to the hospital during emergencies, sewage disposal, supply of potable water and so on require steady functional logistics, which were grossly inadequate”, Aregbesola added.

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