Nigeria Content Online

Prisoners across
the country will soon begin to benefit from better training and
infrastructure, the comptroller-general of prisons, Ogunsola Ogundipe,
has said. Mr. Ogundipe who was represented by the deputy comptroller of
prisons (finance), Salawu Momodu, said the prison service has started a
restoration programme which will ensure that inmates are no longer
housed in substandard buildings. He made the statement in Abuja on
Tuesday at the fifth International World Conference on Human Rights,
Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, hosted by the Citizens United for
the Rehabilitation of Errants. Mr. Ogundipe said that the training of
inmates to prepare them to adapt to the real world after their jail
terms would form part of the restoration programme.

“We are building
new prisons and upgrading old ones in a bid to develop prison
infrastructure, to ensure that inmates are kept in humane places. We
are also carrying out manpower development,” he said.

Mr. Ogundipe also said that the problem of prison congestion was
because of the large number of people awaiting trial. He said that the
prisons were designed for convicts and not those awaiting trial. Mr.
Ogundipe promised that the reforms taking place in the prison service
would ensure that the problem was tackled soon. He said that with
increased funding, the prisons would do better, arguing that the
colonial structures in the country should be updated. The former chief
justice of the federation, Muhammed Uwais, who also spoke at the event,
said the process of reforming the judicial prison system in Nigeria was
ongoing. He said that although Nigeria was still lagging behind
compared to other countries in the world, “we will catch up with them”.