Speaking on Wednesday at the Regional Conference on the Classification of Prisoners and the Use of Technology in Prisons in Africa, jointly organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the African Correctional Services Association (ACSA) in Abuja, the minister said the federal government had embarked on reforms aimed at decongesting correctional facilities by freeing inmates jailed for minor offences.
According to Tunji-Ojo, an audit conducted shortly after he assumed office revealed that more than 4,000 inmates were serving time over fines and compensation orders of less than N500,000.
“93 per cent of our inmates in Nigeria are state offenders. Only seven per cent are federal offenders. Before this administration came on board, many of those in custody were there for minor offences that did not require incarceration,” he said.
The minister explained that he directed the permanent secretary in the ministry and the controller-general of the Nigerian Correctional Service to compile records of inmates detained over minor fines and compensation.
“When I became minister, I asked for the data of people in correctional centres for fines and compensation of less than N500,000. We discovered that over 4,000 people fell into that category,” he said.
