Nigerian Prisons Accommodate 68,259 Inmates in March 2017
…Prison Farms Revived for Self-Sufficiency In food production.
The
Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) has disclosed that over 68,000 inmates
are accommodated in the prison facilities through the country as at
March 2017.
The Controller General of Nigerian Prison Service, Jaafaru Ahmed who made the disclosure in an interview with the Economic Confidential said that the agency has reopened prison farm centres towards self-sufficiency in food production.
Speaking
on the current figure of the inmates, Ahmed said “As at March 6, 2017,
total inmates population stands at 68,259. Out of this number, 46,351
are awaiting trial persons, and the remaining 21,903 are convicted. In
terms of percentage, the convicted is 32 percent, while awaiting trial
persons is 68 percent. Though the figures are not static as they go up
and down.”
He also disclosed that the Prison
Service had commenced the rehabilitation of its various farming centers
with the purchase of twenty-two tractors that would lead the service to
specialize in food productions enough to feed the inmates and for sale
to the general public.
The
prison boss said: “In 2016 budget we purchased so many farm machineries
like tractors and other kinds of implements. We have also dug so many
boreholes, fish-farming and the rest of them. These would be used to
reposition our farm centers.
“What
we intend to do when the budget for 2017 is passed is that we have
picked three (3) out of fourteen farm centres. The idea is to make sure
that we specialize in different farming processes. Like Kujama, we
intend to set it up strictly for the production of maize. We want to see
the production of maize all year round, not only during the raining
season but also during the dry season. We have budgeted some amount of
money to sink boreholes for irrigation purposes to ensure the success of
these programmes. We have picked Lampushi farm center strictly for
rice production and the possibility of producing rice during both
raining season and dry season. We have also taken Ozalla for the
production of palm oil. These are three pilot projects we intend to do
this year to see the possibility of whether the prison can actually feed
itself,” he said.
He further said the Service
is looking at mechanization. "We are looking at mechanization where the
crops to be produced would be in large quantity both for self and sale
outside. The process would reduce the manual labour and subsequently
enhance production. The development will no doubt bring on board storage
facilities when fully integrated so that all the areas will have
comparative advantage.”
Speaking on the
synergy existing among the three arms of the Criminal Justice system,
Mr. Ahmed said that the Prison is the last bus-stop and only a custodian
of all the parties namely, the judiciary cum the prosecution authority,
which is the ministry of justice, the police and the prisons.
Ahmed
noted that so long as anybody knocks on the door with valid warrant and
appropriate papers, “we have no option but to receive such persons.”
He
canvassed for a genuine collaboration among the three arms of the
criminal justice system to enhance synergy so that the case of anybody
brought to prison as awaiting trial will be determined as quickly as
possible, stressing that other arms have to do their part so that there
would be quick dispensation of justice.
Full interview here: http://economicconfidential.com/exclusive-interviews/prison-farms-68259-inmates-jaafaru-ahmed/
Note: The Economic Confidential is a sister publication of PRNigeria
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