4,000 Convicts Languish in Jail, Unable to Pay N500 Million in Fines. — Minister

4,000 convicts languish in jail, unable to pay N500 million in fines. — Minister
Over 4,000 prisoners imprisoned in jails across the nation, according to Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of the interior, are unable to pay fines totaling N500 million.

He also, for the umpteenth time, vowed to tackle the delays Nigerians in the diaspora encounter in obtaining their passports.

NewsReport Nigeria reports that Tunji-Ojo, who disclosed this in an interview in Arise News, said he had met with some private organizations to raise the money, assuring that in the next four weeks, the fines would be cleared and the inmates released.

He said, “Immediately after I resumed, I set up a committee to review the situation at our prisons. We discovered that over 4,000 inmates are in custody due to their inability to pay fines, which are about N500 million. We have gone far with private organizations to put this money together.

“I am sure within the next four weeks, we will be able to pay these fines for the 4,000 inmates, which will help us decongest our custodial centers.”

He noted that the decongestion of the prisons was not the responsibility of the only ministry, adding that he had been discussing with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to combat the issue of awaiting trial inmates.

”The decongestion of our custodial centers is not the sole responsibility of the ministry. We are in talks with the AGF to see how cases can be expedited.

”We have also activated the non-prison centers to decongest the prisons,” the minister added.

He also vowed to tackle the delays Nigerians in the diaspora encounter in obtaining their passports, disclosing that more passport desk offices would be established worldwide by February 2024 to ease the burden of obtaining a passport for those in the diaspora.

While assuring that Nigerians in the diaspora who had been captured would get their passports in the next three weeks, Tunji-Ojo said that after clearing the backlogs in the country, his attention had shifted to those in the diaspora.