NGO facilitates release of 18 inmates in Keffi custodial centres

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By Oboh Linus, Lafia

Public and Private Development Centre,(PPDC), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has facilitated the release of 18 inmates with minor crimes across the two custodial Centres in Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

Mrs Lucy James Abagi, Chief Executive Officer of PPDC, while speaking with newsmen in Keffi, said the PPDC joined the Chief Judge of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Periodic Jail Delivery to facilitate their release through the Organisation Access to Justice Initiative.

Apex News Exclusive reports that a total of 30 inmates were released from the two Keffi Custodial Centres during the Periodic Jail Delivery exercise conducted by the Chief Judge of FCT, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf.

Abagi said that PPDC, over the last three years, through the support of the Bureau of International Narcotic and Law Enforcement Agency of the United States Mission, has been working in the ‘Access to Justice Initiative’ to reduce the number of awaiting trial across Nigeria Correctional Centres.

Abagi, while thanking the FCT Chief Judge for finding time to visit Keffi to discharge inmates who she said should not have been incarcerated in the first place, emphasised the urgent need for speedy trail to prevent the prolong detention of people awaiting justice.

She lamented the staggering number of young people, constituting over 80,000, who have been held across correctional centres in Nigeria, according to the NCOS portal, noting that the record was unhealthy for Nigeria’s economy.

“We saw people who have been here and granted bail but could not afford as low as N20,000. We saw people who have been here due to Gender Based Violence.

“Women have been here because they’ve been abused and they said no to the abuse, but the complainants wanted to punish them for saying no to them, and they have been here for weeks, months, and years, which is against the law.

“Our goal here is to ensure that people who don’t deserve to be here are out, and the fact that the FCT Chief Judge came himself means we are moving in the right direction. I am hoping other Chief Judges across the state will also carry out this exercise across the states,” she said.

She advised that for custodial centres to be decongested, only convicts of grave crimes should be incarcerated, while civil cases should be resolved out of court and out of the correctional centres.

“Convicts of armed robbery, terrorism, and so on should be remanded in the correctional centres, not issues such as N20,000 or issues of saying no, I don’t want to be your friend,” she said.

Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, Chief Justice of the FCT, said the total of 30 inmates awaiting trial across the two custodial centres in Keffi have been discharged.

Justice Baba-Yusuf said the jail delivery aimed to decongest correctional centres and ensure that those who do not deserve to be behind bars are allowed to go free.

“We have decided to give hope to the hopeless, there are a lot of people who shouldn’t be here in the first place, so, this visit is to ensure that people who have no business being here are not kept behind doors, not even for one day. That is what we have done,” he said.

He assured that the exercise would be sustained, as he promised to visit Kuje and Suleja custodial centres for another round of jail delivery.

Baba-Yusuf blamed the congestion in the custodial centres on the incarceration of those inmates who should not have been incarcerated in the first place, among other factors.

The predicament of these types of inmates has been caused by the laxity of the deciding magistrates, the police, and probably the challenges of the correctional centres, which are not properly equipped with a lot of logistics support that they need to bring inmates to court regularly.

“So, it is good that they are encouraged with facilities to enable them to deliver on their mandate. By that we will quicken the dispensation of justice and eradicate this incident of people being kept in custody when they ought to be walking freely,” he said.

Also speaking, Mrs Chioma Onyenucheya-Uko, Chairperson of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Abuja Branch, bemoaned the incarceration of the discharged women and said her organisation would intensify sensitisation of women on their rights.

“One of the things I saw concerning those women’s cases was a seeming abuse of power by persons who had the influence and think they have the wherewithal to unleash the law ferociously and even wrongly against those women.

“You can see that many of them have not been convicted of anything; they are awaiting trial. This is why we try to enlighten women on their rights. When they know their rights, some of them will be able to brief a lawyer when those things are happening. They can come to FIDA and make a complaint,” she said.

Mr Yau Ibrahim, Controller of the Keffi Medium Security Custodial Centre, while appreciating the FCT Chief Judge and his entourage for the visit, noted that the intention of the visit was in line with the desire of the correctional officers to see the decongestion of the correctional centres.