No fewer than 57,288 persons out of 84,283 inmates across the 244 correctional centres in the country are still awaiting trial, data from the Nigerian Correctional Centre has shown.
The data revealed that 55,924 of the awaiting trial inmates are male, while 1,364 are female.
It also showed that only 26,995 (32 per cent) inmates comprising 26,530 males and 465 females have faced trials.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, a lawyer and founder of Headfort Foundation, Oluyemi Adetiba-Orija, said prison congestion has hindered the country’s justice system.
She remarked that police and the courts are responsible for the excessive prison congestion.
Adetiba-Orija, whose foundation provides access to justice for unjustly imprisoned inmates, noted that this congestion had made it impossible for the NCS to carry out its duty, which is to reform offenders.
She said, “This is affecting the prison system because that facility is supposed to be a rehabilitation centre. It is supposed to be a place where people are reformed and reintegrated into society. But when the prison population outweighs its capacity, it means something is wrong. The rehabilitation programme will not be done in the right way.”
To tackle this, she said the NCS must equip itself to offer non-custodial services like community and parole services.
Also, the National Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Abubakar Umar admitted that the congestion is one of the challenges facing the correctional centres in Nigeria.
“We are working round the clock with the judiciary so that we will have a speedy trial of their cases.
“Don’t forget that there are some that don’t have lawyers’ representation. So we have some NGOs that come to assist them through pro bono services so that they have lawyer representation and their cases heard adequately,” he said.