NAN-DS-7
Prisons
By Muhyideen Jimoh
Abuja, April 27, 2017 (NAN) The Federal Government has inaugurated 239 assorted operational vehicles and farm tractors as part of plans to rehabilitate and fast-track access to justice for inmates in Nigerian prisons.
The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau while inaugurating the operational vehicles on Thursday in Abuja, said the measure was part of efforts to reform the operations of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS).
He decried the neglect of the NPS over the years and the attendant myriad of challenges it has had to grapple with, especially infrastructural decay and logistic constrains.
“The Federal Government will continue to strengthen the prison system in order to enhance its capacity to provide safe, secure and humane custody,
“We will also continue with our reforms and rehabilitation programmes in line with global best practices,’’ he said.
Dambazau explained that 217 of the new vehicles were for operational purposes while 22 were tractors meant to scale up the production capacity of prison farm centres across the country.
He said that the effective running of the prison farms would help save cost and boost production of food for prisoners’ consumption and even sell to the general public.
The minister said that efforts were also underway with the Ministry of Justice to see how some courts could be situated within the premises of the prisons to fast-track trial, especially of awaiting trail inmates.
Earlier, the Controller-General of the NPS, Mr Ja’afaru Ahmed said that most of the unrest in the prisons were due to inability to take awaiting trial prisoners to court for hearing.
He said that the vehicles would also go a long way in addressing this challenge while the tractors would boost production in the 16 farm centres across the country.
Ja’afaru appealed to state governments to also support the NPS in order to address the myriad of challenges confronting the prisons service.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the vehicles inaugurated include Black Marias, escort vehicles, Hilux, customised buses, ambulances, trucks and tractors.
The event was graced by officials from the ministry, NPS, Human Rights Commission, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Fire Service. (NAN)
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Edited by Ese E. Ekama