Lawyers laud AGF’s proposed institutional, policy reforms

Lawyers have applauded the proposed prison reform and
decongestion programme announced as part of the institutional and
policy reforms at the Ministry of Justice.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation,
Abubakar Malami (SAN), last week announced the planned prison
reform and decongestion programme at a meeting with management of
the Ministry of Justice.

He said the intervention programme will propagate and foster
viable strategies to address the problem of increasing number of
awaiting trial persons in the prisons nationwide, adding that it
will further consider the general state of the Nigerian prisons and
the condition of the inmates.

Malami added that in accordance with the approval and mandate of
the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its 19th meeting held on May
24th, the Justice ministry in collaboration with other stakeholders
will look into cases of condemned convicts on death row for over 10
years with the view to getting relevant authorities to commute the
sentences to life imprisonment.

He said the programme will also seek to determine and consider
all inmates convicted on minor offences with option of fine but are
unable to pay such fines. He said the programme will assist in the
payment of such fines subject to the option of community service on
the part of the convicts.

Reacting, Barrister Nureni Sulyman, said it is a long expected
move. “When you get to most of the prisons, you discover that a lot
of awaiting trial inmates are kept in a congested environment and
most have been languishing there for many years.

However, the Chairman of the Capital (Bwari) Bar, Barrister
Mohammed Tsav, said the government should be careful with the
arrangement.

“Some of these convicts like in the case of terrorism, militancy
and so on still have followership. So, I will not subscribe to
commuting the sentences to life imprisonment because some of these
convicts can still influence actions of others even from their
incarceration.

“Another challenge is that there is still going to be the
situation of maintaining these people. This is why it needs serious
consideration from the government as to what kind of condemned
prisoners they intend to keep in prison and keep maintaining them
with tax payers’ money”, he said.

Lawyers have applauded the proposed prison reform and
decongestion programme announced as part of the institutional and
policy reforms at the Ministry of Justice.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation,
Abubakar Malami (SAN), last week announced the planned prison
reform and decongestion programme at a meeting with management of
the Ministry of Justice.

He said the intervention programme will propagate and foster
viable strategies to address the problem of increasing number of
awaiting trial persons in the prisons nationwide, adding that it
will further consider the general state of the Nigerian prisons and
the condition of the inmates.

Malami added that in accordance with the approval and mandate of
the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its 19th meeting held on May
24th, the Justice ministry in collaboration with other stakeholders
will look into cases of condemned convicts on death row for over 10
years with the view to getting relevant authorities to commute the
sentences to life imprisonment.

He said the programme will also seek to determine and consider
all inmates convicted on minor offences with option of fine but are
unable to pay such fines. He said the programme will assist in the
payment of such fines subject to the option of community service on
the part of the convicts.

Reacting, Barrister Nureni Sulyman, said it is a long expected
move. “When you get to most of the prisons, you discover that a lot
of awaiting trial inmates are kept in a congested environment and
most have been languishing there for many years.

However, the Chairman of the Capital (Bwari) Bar, Barrister
Mohammed Tsav, said the government should be careful with the
arrangement.

“Some of these convicts like in the case of terrorism, militancy
and so on still have followership. So, I will not subscribe to
commuting the sentences to life imprisonment because some of these
convicts can still influence actions of others even from their
incarceration.

“Another challenge is that there is still going to be the
situation of maintaining these people. This is why it needs serious
consideration from the government as to what kind of condemned
prisoners they intend to keep in prison and keep maintaining them
with tax payers’ money”, he said.