BY ANTHONY OCHELA, ABUJA
Federal government visitation panel on Correctional Centres said facilities and inmates are in terrible and unbearable conditions.
The panel headed by Mr Olawale Fapohunda (SAN) revealed that most inmates are languishing in centres due to lack of legal representation and the inability of the Legal Aid Council to cope with the increasing number of cases.
Submitting the report of the panel to the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Fapohunda said while auditing the centres, they interface with categories of inmates and found their conditions unpalatable.
Besides lack of legal representation, Fapohunda said most of the inmates are suffering ailments that the prison authorities cannot bear the cost of providing treatment.
He therefore pleaded with the AGF and the federal government to come to the rescue of the correctional centres and inmates with a view to alleviate their poor conditions.
Fapohunda, a former Ekiti State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, asked the AGF to convene an emergency meeting of the Body of Attorneys-General to debate the issue of the deplorable conditions of Correctional Centers and inmates, and come out with concrete remedy that will make life bearable for the inmates.
“It would have been odd if the working group had simply focused on the status of Section 35 inmates and ignored the plight of others deserving urgent attention.
“This category of inmates include those without legal representation. Indeed, several inmates continue to be kept in detention for periods longer than the maximum period of imprisonment prescribed for the offence because they do not have legal representation.
“The working group found that an alarming high number of inmates in the custodial centres under review were without legal representation. The AGF is invited to note that although the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria is mandated to provide free legal services to inmates without legal representation, it is presently under resourced and thus barely able to make a significant difference,” he said.
In his remarks, Fagbemi disclosed that the working group was constituted as part of efforts to ensure access to justice and ensure that persons are not unduly detained in custodial centres.
According to the minister, the move is in line with the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda of the administration of President Bola Tinubu and in line with the obligations under various national and international instruments, including the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), international standards stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, KCCPR, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ACHPR, and other human rights instruments to which Nigeria is a party.
