The House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions has urged for the collaboration of the Lagos State government in its quests for reformation of correctional centres policies and programs, emphasising the need for the state government to partner with the Federal Government in rehabilitating correctional centres across the country.
The committee led by its chairman, Hon. Comrade Chinedu Ogah, made the call when he led members of the committee on a courtesy visit to the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the Deputy Governor’s Office, Ikeja, saying that the collaboration became imperative to aid skill upscale and enhance productivity among the inmates after being released.
Speaking during the visit, Hon. Ogah requested the reformation of the correctional centres in Lagos; possible relocation of the Ikoyi Correctional Centre; and rehabilitation of the access road in Kirikiri, Apapa, that hosted three facilities.
The lawmaker, while making the requests, noted that the Federal Government cannot take the lead of the correctional centres alone but requires a partnership with the state governments.
According to the committee chairman, that has been the reason Nigeria has continued to partner with the United Nations (UN) and others, noting that these bodies “give hope to the inmates by training them and giving skills that will help them thereafter.”
He pointed out that the correctional service in Nigeria currently had a trademark of a progression centre, saying that enhancing it would be useful to the lives of inmates and prevent them from going back to crimes again after being released.
“The Federal Government cannot take the lead of the correctional centres alone but requires a partnership with the state governments, and that is why the nation has continued to partner with the United Nations and others, as these organisations give hope to the inmates by training them and giving skills that will help them thereafter.
“Currently, the Nigeria Correctional Service has a trademark of a progression centre. Enhancing it will be useful to the lives of inmates and make them not to go back to crimes again after being released,” he said.
Ogah, therefore, appealed to the state government to support providing logistic facilities for correction service in Lagos State, saying that the logistics facilities will make the job of the centre easy and effective.
The lawmaker also urged the Lagos State government to give the prerogative of mercy to minor offenders who were below the constitutional age of 18 as stated in the constitution, adding that this would help to reduce the congestion in the correctional centres in the country.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, in his response, stated that his administration was willing to work with the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions to ensure that the prisons in the state were actually correctional centres that truly served the correction and growth purposes.
The governor, who spoke through the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, emphasised the importance of transforming the correctional centres, stating that it was in the interest of the country to make sure that the prisons were actually correctional centres.
He argued that this is because a country is defined according to the way the prisons are and how inmates are being treated.
It is in the interest of the country to make sure that the prisons are actually correctional centres, as a country is defined according to the way the prisons are and the treatment of inmates,” Sanwo-Olu said.
On the decongestion of the centres in the state, Sanwo-Olu noted that it was important to look into the data and ensure that only the bad people were kept in there and the innocent set free.
The governor, therefore, charged the controller of the state’s correctional service to work with the state government by frequently providing a detailed status of the inmates to the government, stating their penalties to enable the state to take care of such fines and secure their release.
He also encouraged civil organisations to support the state government in decongesting the prison, noting that some inmates were held in prisons for fines as low as N5,000.
“We can encourage civil organisations to visit the correctional centres and help to release those people held there for small fines as low as N5,000,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Speaking on the request for relocation of Ikoyi Prison, the governor noted that it was an issue that his administration had been looking into, noting that a site was already being made available for the prison construction, just as he pointed out that states were prohibited from constructing prison facilities in the past.
He, however, recalled that past administrations in Lagos State made an attempt to build one, saying that the architectural design was made and was submitted to the then Minister.
He noted that the design would be looked into, assuring that the state government was willing to work with the Federal Ministry of Interior on the construction of the Ikoyi Prison.
Sanwo-Olu further assured that the state government would include the road that leads to the Apapa prison in its road rehabilitation to ease the flow of movement, particularly for the officials and citizens that reside on the axis.
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