Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has revealed that the Federal Government secured the release of more than 4,000 inmates from correctional centres after paying fines and compensation that had kept them in custody for relatively minor offences.
According to a report by Vanguard, the minister made the disclosure while highlighting reforms introduced by the Ministry of Interior to tackle overcrowding in correctional facilities across the country.
Tunji-Ojo explained that shortly after assuming office, he directed the Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service to compile the records of inmates detained over unpaid fines and compensation of less than ₦500,000.
The exercise, he said, identified over 4,000 inmates whose continued detention was placing an unnecessary financial burden on the government. He noted that the cost of feeding and maintaining those inmates had, in many cases, exceeded the value of the fines they owed.
Reflecting on the initiative, the minister said, “When I became minister, I asked for the records of people in correctional centres over fines and compensation of less than ₦500,000. We found over 4,000 people.”
He stated that facilitating their release was part of a broader strategy to decongest correctional centres, improve the administration of custodial facilities, and ensure more efficient use of public funds.
According to Tunji-Ojo, the reform is intended to create a more humane and practical correctional system while reducing pressure on Nigeria’s overcrowded correctional centres…See_More
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