Latest News

Oyo Community Service Punishment Scheme only sustainable with govt funding ― Judiciary

The Oyo State judiciary on Thursday stated that for the state Community Service Punishment Scheme to be sustained, the state government must be responsible for its funding as the scheme was put in place by the law of Oyo State.

The Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Munta Ladipo Abimbola, represented by Justice Omolara Adeyemi, made this known while speaking on the topic; Sustainability of the Oyo State Community Service Punishment Scheme: Way forward at an annual stakeholders review workshop.

The review workshop was organised by the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), and was held at the J. Travers Hall, Saint Patricks Church, Basorun, Ibadan.

In her paper, Justice Adeyemi stated that the Community Service Punishment Scheme should be implemented by the government, adding that at the moment, it is being implemented by the JDPC I. Collaboration with the state judiciary.

According to her, “once there is funding, the scheme will become more effective as rather than keeping offenders within the premises of the high court to serve their punishment, they can be taken to public places; public hospitals, schools or government farms within their locality, as provided by the law establishing the scheme.

“Before they can be taken to such places to serve their sentence, there must be enough personnel, security so that they don’t abscond and means of transportation because they can’t be taken to such locations in public transportation and equipment to work with must be available because they are the ones that bring their work tools presently, all these must be provided by the government.

“Community sentencing has helped in decongesting the courts and correctional centres. For those of us handling EFCC matters in Oyo State, it has helped to speed up cases, if all courts can give about 20 sentences monthly as it happens in my court, then the scheme is working by decongesting correctional centres.

“If the law was not put in place for community sentencing, the people sentenced under the scheme for a simple misdemeanour will be sent to the correctional centres where they will add to the already bloated population instead of the community service they are subjected to,” she added.

Justice Adeyemi however emphasised the need for values to be taught at home and in schools as well as the need to channel the energy and digital intellect of youths to stem the breakdown in values and curb crime.

Also speaking, Dr Remi Akinrinola, the chairman of the Oyo State chapter of the Counsellor Association of Nigeria, explained that ” we are collaborating with the JDPC to reform the lives of people sentenced under the community service scheme and it is making a huge difference because out of 700 that have undergone community sentencing, we only have two repeat offenders, unlike the figure of repeat offenders in correctional centres.

‘ This is encouraging because counselling is needed to reshape the orientation of those convicts because some of them are victims of their orientation; they weren’t taught values or the dignity of labour but counselling has helped to reform them and they are now better people. We appreciate the initiative of JDPC,” he added.

ALSO READ FROM  NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Oyo Community Service Punishment Scheme only sustainable with Govt funding ― Judiciary

Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare

Recent Posts

OPEC+ approves second straight accelerated oil output hike for June

Oil prices have continued to slide, hitting a four-year low in April of under $60…

13 minutes ago

Oyo govt awards N3.5bn contracts to upgrade rural markets

The Oyo State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (OY-RAAMP) has awarded contracts totaling N3.5…

13 minutes ago

Police rescue couple, one other from suspected kidnappers in Anambra

The Police operatives attached to Neni Divisional Headquarters in Anoacha local government area of Anambra…

19 minutes ago

TETfund commends Kwara govt on teachers’ recruitment

(TETFund) for the North Central zone, Engineer Nurudeen Adeyemi Balogun, has lauded the Kwara State…

25 minutes ago

FG flags off distribution of life jackets in Bayelsa

The Federal Government has flagged off a Marine Safety Sensitization and Life Jacket Distribution project…

31 minutes ago

NGO launches free medical outreach for over 500 beneficiaries in Kaduna

A Non-Governmental Organisation under the auspices of De-Lace International in collaboration with Tukur-Tukur Foundation has…

32 minutes ago

Welcome

Install

This website uses cookies.