Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has raised concerns over the growing population of inmates in correctional facilities across Africa, arguing that a significant proportion of those behind bars committed offences that should never have resulted in imprisonment.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Regional Conference on the Classification of Prisoners and the Use of Technology in Prisons in Africa, jointly organised in Abuja by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the African Correctional Services Association (ACSA), the minister urged correctional authorities to re-evaluate the causes of congestion in prisons across the continent.
He challenged prison administrators to critically examine whether overcrowding in their facilities was genuinely unavoidable.
“The question is this. Is your correctional centre rightfully overcrowded? That is the question. You have to look at those particular offences. You will realise that more than 30, 40, 50 per cent are offences that do not warrant incarceration,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo disclosed that state-related offences account for the overwhelming majority of inmates in Nigeria’s correctional facilities, noting that many of those incarcerated were jailed for relatively minor violations.
“93% of our inmates in Nigeria are state offenders. Only 7% are federal offenders. And of this 93%, I want to tell you before this president came on board, a lot of them were for minor offences that had no need for incarceration,” he stated.
The minister recalled that shortly after assuming office, he directed the leadership of the Nigerian Correctional Service to compile data on inmates imprisoned over small financial penalties and compensation orders.
“When I became minister, I called my permanent secretary, I called the Controller General of the Correctional Service, and I said, listen, give me the data, the record of people who are in correctional centres for fines and compensation of less than 500,000 or something. And guess what? Over 4,000 people,” he said.
Questioning the rationale behind detaining such offenders, Tunji-Ojo argued that the cost of maintaining them in custody far outweighed the financial penalties imposed by the courts.
“I said, what is the sense in this? Because I feed them in a year with more than 10 times the fine. So how is the government benefiting? And we were able to clear that, and in one day, we decongested our correctional centre by 5% in one day. In one day,” he added.
The minister also announced a significant decline in the number of repeat offenders returning to correctional facilities, attributing the development to expanded educational and vocational rehabilitation programmes.
According to him, annual recidivism figures have fallen from about 13,000 cases in 2023 to approximately 1,000 last year.
He revealed that the Nigerian Correctional Service currently has 62 inmates enrolled in postgraduate studies, 261 pursuing undergraduate degrees, 1,125 participating in formal education programmes and 9,582 engaged in vocational and non-formal training. He added that these initiatives are supported through 18 National Open University of Nigeria study centres located within correctional facilities nationwide.
Also addressing participants at the conference, the Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, said the country has continued to strengthen its correctional system through reforms introduced under the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019.
He noted that effective inmate classification has become essential for assessing security risks, safeguarding vulnerable prisoners, allocating resources efficiently and implementing rehabilitation programmes tailored to individual needs.
Highlighting the importance of collaboration among African correctional institutions, Nwakuche said no single country possesses all the answers to modern correctional challenges.
“We have a unique opportunity to exchange ideas, share practical experiences and collectively develop solutions that will strengthen correctional systems across Africa,” he said.
(Ripples)