President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has released 12,000 prisoners from the nation’s correctional facilities to decongest the Nigerian prisons. The idea to decongest prisons was a program of the ministry of justice since 2016 which has now led to the release of 12,000 prisoners from the nation’s correctional facilities.
Patricia Ayoola Daniels, secretary of the ministry’s prison decongestion committee, revealed this on Tuesday during the defense of the ministry’s 2023 budget.
She claims that after the inmates were released, the ministry upgraded the skill-building facilities, beginning with the Keffi Correctional Center pilot facility, to better prepare the released inmates.
Patricia also mentioned that during the decongestion exercise, prisoners received legal assistance. inmates The release of 180 children from foster care facilities across the nation, according to Ms. Daniels, was supported by the justice ministry.
“We visited about three in the last year and granted them amnesty, and we went with experts from UNICEF to properly re-integrate the children back,” she said.
Abubakar Malami, the minister of justice, claimed that the ministry had received strong legislative support in order to enact the urgently required legislation.
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“With your support, the justice sector has been transformed into an avenue, not only for law enforcement but indeed for revenue generation, and huge sums of money and assets have been recovered by the ministry and other agencies. Also, it has helped to block revenue leakages,” the minister said.
Mr. Malami urged continued support for the justice system, particularly for initiatives, plans, and actions aimed at institutionalizing access to justice, establishing the rule of law, and defending freedom, all of which are guaranteed by the constitution.
The development of the justice subsector’s capacity to meet the complex and ever-evolving national and international obligations to fight corruption and rebuild investors’ confidence, he claimed, was the primary focus of the ministry’s proposed budget for 2023.
According to People’s Gazette, he claimed that the 2023 budget was primarily concerned with readjusting the economy, which would inevitably help to promote national security and peace.
Malami stated that the ministry needed money as he begged the Senate committee to help it carry out its mission.
“We have taken significant steps to support measures to ensure peace and security, fight terrorism, and enhance access to justice,” he noted.
Meanwhile, some gunmen dressed in military uniforms reportedly attacked commuters traveling on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Tuesday.
The gunmen suspected to be kidnappers stormed the road from the bush before the Sagamu Interchange en route to Lagos and started shooting at motorists in the 18-passenger inter-state bus.
According to one of the victims who craved anonymity, “We (passengers) were only lucky to escape the gunmen but many of us have been injured by the bullets and our bus has been badly damaged too.”
Another video shows a man who survived bullet wounds recounting his experience saying, “I thought I was dead, having been shot by them.
“They faced our vehicle shooting at us, we all lay down except the driver who was the target. They thought we were all dead and retreated into the bush.
“The joint patrol team of police officers from Ogun and Oyo states arrived at the scene later.
All attempts to reach the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, for further details proved abortive as of the time of filing this report. He did not take his calls nor reply to the text message sent to his phone.
