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| Moro, Interior Minister |
The Executive Director, Community
Outreach for Development and Welfare Advocacy, Mr. Taiwo Otitolaye, has said
that inmates in Nigerian prisons live on contract food of N200 per day.
He stated that such was highly
degrading and insufficient in view of the current realities and cost of living
in the country.
He spoke with journalists in Ilorin
on Wednesday during a training on legislative advocacy and project management
by the Human Rights Agenda Network, Kwara State chapter.
Otitolaye also decried the delay in
justice delivery in the country. He noted that many inmates stay more months or
years on awaiting trail than they would have spent if they had been convicted.
He urged all the relevant law
enforcemement agencies and the judiciary to ensure speedy trial of cases.
He called for an upward review of
the nation’s criminal justice system; reformation and upgrading in the
infrastructure and trainings in the remand and social services homes in the
country.
Otitolaye said, “The policy
establishing contracting food for prisoners at N200 per day is obsolete and
should be strictly reviewed to reflect today’s realities. It is because of such
policy that prisoners and inmates emanciate in prisons.
“It is an insensitive policy. It
shows the insensitivity of the leadership of the country. So we condemn it in
its entirety. We ask that the policy be reviewed upward.
“The administration of Criminal
Justice Act which the colonial masters left for Nigeria is not only obsolete
but obnoxious.
“We encourage all states to speedily
pass the administration of criminal justice bill that befits the realities of
today, and assist in the administration of criminal justice process in
Nigeria.”
Punch -
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