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The Nigerian Governors’ Forum has been under severe criticism since it endorsed the decision taken last week by the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) to execute inmates on death row so as to decongest prisons.

The decision has also attracted criticisms, even beyond the shore of Nigeria as Amnesty International, the global human rights campaigner, said any such step by the government at any level will be contrary to international legal commitments binding on Nigeria.

But the decision of the government to restart the execution of condemned criminals was taken as a means to easing prison congestion and reducing the overcrowding often seen inside the prisons walls.

New proposals for prison decongestion

However, the EXCOF decision may not really see the light of day now if the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), has his way with new reforms he is proposing to overhaul the system and decongest prisons.

Investigation by this correspondent has showed that Mr. Adoke wants states to build their own prisons. Also, he wants the decongestion programme to be a partnership between the Federal and state governments.

According to the Minister of the Interior, Emmanuel Iheanacho, a retired Air Force Captain who toured some prison formations in the Federal Capital City a week ago, the total prison population is about 48,000, of which over 30,000 inmates are classified as awaiting trial persons (ATPs).

Why execution won’t decongest prisons

According to the school of thought opposed to execution, the huge number of prison inmates who are awaiting trial, most of whom are too poor to afford a lawyer’s service, is the main reason to blame for prison congestion.

Findings by NEXT showed that the Legal Aid Council has only about 100 lawyers to cater for the needs of more than 30, 000 awaiting trial perosns, as against the about 870 death row inmates, including women and juveniles, currently populating Nigerian prisons.

Before now, two expert groups had been set up by the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to reform the prison system and deal with the problem of overcrowding in prisons. The groups, the National Study Group on Death Penalty, established in 2004, and the Presidential Commission on Reform of the Administration of Justice, established in 2007, both recommended a moratorium on executions because the criminal justice system could no longer guarantee fair trial at all time.

The recommendation resulted in the establishment of a nationwide Prisons Decongestion Programme in 2005 to reduce the number of ATPs in the 227 prisons formations and satellite prisons and improve the country’s slow criminal justice system.

Objectives of FG’s programme

FG’s prison decongestion programme seeks to address the lack of legal representation for indigent accused persons by engaging a large number of private legal practitioners, over 3000 Solicitors to undertake the defence of such persons in courts in the 36 states and the FCT.

Statistics obtained from the Ministry’s monitoring mechanism for the programme indicates that over 47,956 inmates have so far benefited from the programme.

Documents obtained at the AGF’s office showed that as at December 2009, out of the total number of 47,956 cases farmed out, a total number of 11,833 cases have been completed, 7,711 accused persons granted bail, while 28,412 cases are still pending before the various courts in the country.

Amending the Constitution to decongest prisons

Adoke’s proposals seeks to overcome the various blames for overcrowding, which include laxity in police investigation, needless court adjournments, poor state of prison facilities, and diversion of funds meant to achieve the planned reform in the past.

For example, about N8 billion was alleged to have been spent on the programme, without a commensurate profit during the time of the former AGF and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa (SAN).

First, Mr. Adoke, who has not disclosed the financial cost of his proposals, has proposed a second stakeholders’ summit to discuss amendment which will place prison issues in the concurrent list of the Constitution, “so that states can build their own prisons.”

“This will largely help in decongesting prisons because over 70 percent of the inmates in the Federal prisons are persons accused of having violated state laws. (T)he Federal Ministry of Justice is committed to the successful implementation of this programme and will continue to partner with the private bar and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system in order to improve the state of Nigerian prisons and restore the dignity of the inmates,” Mr. Adoke added.

The AGF’s proposals to the FG include: the possibility of amending sentencing procedures in courts, the possibility of going into funding partnership between the FG and states, a comprehensive overhauling of Nigerian prisons with IT facilities for smooth access to information on inmates, restricting external solicitors to cases in areas of location to reduce logistics problems, and continuous liaison with relevant government agencies.

Others are: the possibility of the Ministry (either alone or in partnership with NGOs) undertaking to pay the fines imposed on indigent convicts, introduction of non-custodial sentences, the monitoring of counsel performance for appropriate sanctions for poor performance, increment in the programme’s budgetary outlay to cover outstanding cases, and the involvement of local and international donor institutions, even as the Ministry of Justice remains the programme coordinator.