Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has written to the Nigerian Governors Forum to request a meeting in order to decongest jails around the country.
This was made known by the Minister’s Media Adviser, Sola Fasure, on Tuesday.
The minister said that the interface was necessary as more than 90 per cent of the inmates were being held for contravening various state laws, noting that over 70 per cent of the 75,635 inmates at present were awaiting trial.
Aregbesola said that they were therefore being kept under the legal jurisdiction of their respective states.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Tuesday, revealed that over 12,000 inmates were released from various correctional centres across the country within the last six years in line with the policy of prison decongestion.
Malami stated this to members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters during 2023 budget defence session with the committee .
