FG Notifies Governors of Release of Large Number of Prisoners

Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola sent a letter to the Nigerian Governors Forum asking a meeting to talk about declogging the country’s prisons.

Sola Fasure, the minister’s media advisor, told our reporter about this on Tuesday.

In order to get an agreement on the countrywide release of at least 30% of convicts, Aregbesola said he would meet with state governors in precisely one month.

The minister said that more than 70% of the 75,635 prisoners currently incarcerated were doing so while awaiting trial and claimed that the interface was required since more than 90% of the detainees were being imprisoned for violating different state laws.

He said that the percentage of federal criminals in the system was far lower than 10% and that most of the individuals in detention had broken state laws.

Aregbesola said 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 had no need to stay in jail, making it imperative to decongest the nation’s 253 detention facilities.

However, in response to the minister’s move, Fasure said:

“The minister wrote to the Governors Forum, but he hasn’t met with them yet because they need to get in touch with him and schedule a meeting for him.

“He sent a letter to them asking to meet with them, but he hasn’t heard back yet. Therefore, the meeting has not taken place.

In the meanwhile, the Federal Government reported on Tuesday that more than 12,000 prisoners had been freed from different correctional facilities around the nation during the previous six years in accordance with the strategy of prison decongestion.

This was addressed before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters members during the committee’s 2023 budget defense session by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.