…As 4 abducted NEMA staff regain freedom***
The Controller of Prisons, Enugu State Command, Mr Ndubuisi
Ogbodo on Thursday expressed serious concern over the high number of inmates in
the facility because it has tripled its capacity.
Ogbodo spoke in Enugu during presentation of a baseline
report on Decriminalisation and Declassification of Petty Offences organised by
Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), saying it was
disheartening that the facility with a capacity of 648 inmates now has 2,024
inmates.
He said that the situation had made it impossible to
classify the inmates.
The controller, however, said that with proper
classification of petty offences, cases of congestion which had become the
hallmark of Nigerian prisons would be addressed.
Ogbodo said that the situation in prison facilities had made
it necessary for the government to come up with alternative means of addressing
certain levels of wrongdoings in society.
He said that petty offences should be made to attract lesser
sanctions, including community service.
“Petty offences should be classified and defaulters should
be put under community service so that they are not mixed with hardened
criminals in jail,” he said.
In a presentation, Deputy Director of PRAWA, Mrs Ogechi Ogu,
said that government should be seen as not paying lip service to the burning
issue of prisons reforms.
Ogu said that it was sad that prisons in the country were
getting congested at a time the country was talking about reforms in the
sector.
She said it was necessary for government to remove the
punitive aspect of imprisonment and highlight the correctional aspect.
She said that criminalising petty offences and meting out
inhuman acts on offenders was against Article 45 (1b) of the African Charter
which Nigeria signed up for.
Ogu said that government should rather address the
circumstances that led to such offenses.
The deputy director said that instead of seeking redress in
a civil court, law enforcers would rather prefer to criminalise such offences
as loitering, prostitution, failure to pay debts and what they called ‘being a
vagabond’.
“We are calling on the state government to join in the
campaign to remove the current punishments that come with petty offences.
“Let us resort to non-custodial measures. If not we will be
creating more bitter persons that will make the society worst for us,” Ogu
said.
The Executive Director of PRAWA, Mrs Uju Agomoh, said that
the project, being driven by the organisation and Open Society Initiative of
West Africa (OSIWA), was a milestone in criminal justice administration.
Agomoh said that the baseline report was for the
participants and other collaborators to appreciate the situation that had
necessitated the implementation of the project in the state.
She said that it was gratifying that the state government
was doing much in the justice sector, adding that the justice reform team in
the state needed to take notice of the decriminalisation and declassification
of petty offences project.
“We cannot continue to criminalise poverty in this country,”
Agomoh said.
The Abia Coordinator of National Human Rights Commission,
Mrs Uche Nwokocha, said it had become imperative to have sentencing and bail
guidelines in the country.
Nwokocha said that a situation where sentencing and bail
conditions were at the discretion of the courts would make the process
suspicious.
In another development, the National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA) on Thursday said that four of its staff who were abducted on
April 23, had been released unhurt.
Mr Vincent Owan, the Director, Disaster Risk Reduction of
NEMA, disclosed this in Port Harcourt.
Four staff of the agency who were commissioned to carry out
National Food Security Intervention in Rivers were abducted by unknown gunmen
at Ahoada, along Eastwest Road.
Owan said “Our staff that were abducted last week have been
released unhurt.
“Normally when people are being incarcerated for that period
of time, they need to be taken to hospital for treatment.
“Presently they are receiving treatment at various hospitals
where they are referred to for treatment.
“Though it’s a security issue, the NEMA as a responsive
agency of government did all it could to make sure that they were released
unhurt.
On whether any amount was paid to secure the release of the
staff, Owan said “There was no ransom paid by NEMA to the best of my
knowledge.”
“Though they have been released unhurt, but as human beings,
it will take some time for them to get over the trauma because some of them are
not stabilised and in their right mind to narrate the incident, but we are
grateful to God for their release.”
