Posted by According to Mr. Abubakar Umar, spokesman of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS), 3,413 convicts are currently on death row in the nation’s correctional centers.
The overall number of inmates in the country’s correctional facilities is 77,849, according to Umar, who informed newsmen on Friday in Abuja. He said that, “as at Monday, December 18, 2023,” there are 76,081 males and 1,768 females.
A total of 53,836 inmates, including 52,512 men and 1,324 females, are currently awaiting trial, according to the NCoS spokeswoman.
There are currently 69% of all prisoners listed as “Awaiting Trial Persons (ATP)” that are being held in custody. His words were laden with difficulty when he described the phenomenon.
According to him, the service is actively trying to halt the trend by facilitating the prompt trial of accused.
The absence of any sort of inmate rebellion in 2023, he claimed, was due to the fact that prisoners were provided with the most fundamental need.
He went on to say that the proactive measures taken by the NCoS are another aspect.
“This is achieved by implementing tools for monitoring and arranging for swift action near correctional institutions,” he clarified.
According to Umar, the service successfully investigated potential synergies between different agencies to increase security at correctional centers.
The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, took the initiative and provided support, he added, which allowed the Service to reduce the number of prisoners housed in the correctional facilities.
Inmates with choices for fine and restitution were released from prison 4,086 people thanks to the minister’s initiative, he said.
He also claims that the treatment program for prisoners saw great improvement that year, particularly in the areas of rehabilitation, reintegration, and reformation.
A large number of inmates are participating in academic programs in correctional facilities across the country, and according to Umar, 1,840 of them took the 2023 NECO/SSCE.
Many offenders are completing a variety of academic programs, including doctoral degree courses, while in detention, thanks to our collaboration with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), as you may be aware.
Personnel are crucial to fulfilling service mandates, thus we’re dedicated to doing everything we can to ensure their well-being in the field of staff welfare.
This year, we promoted a large number of employees and added additional office space and barracks. Over twenty thousand officers and men were promoted in 2023 alone.
We decorated 5,014 newly promoted staff on Thursday, Dec. 22. This brings the total number of elevated individuals this year to 17,693.
By implementing a number of temporary solutions, we were able to lessen the impact of the gasoline subsidy cut on employees.
He mentioned that one solution that was implemented was the provision of free public transportation buses to transport employees living in remote areas to and from work.