Currently, the Federal Government of Nigeria spends about N22 billion on feeding prisoners in the nation’s 244 correctional facilities.
The state governments would now be responsible for feeding and housing prisoners in respective states, according to Interior Minister Mister Rauf Aregbesola.
He said that the Federal Government would no longer be responsible for such obligations while speaking at a two-day High-Level Conference on Decongestion and Corrections Management held in Abuja.
He claims that since the 1999 amendment to the constitution included the topic of correctional services to the concurrent list, states are now free to build their own institutions and provide their own correctional services.
According to Aregbesola, states without prisons would have to reimburse the federal government for housing and feeding their inmates.
Currently, the Federal Government of Nigeria spends about N22 billion on feeding prisoners in the nation’s 244 correctional facilities.
The federal government’s revenue is being drained, according to the minister.
He also disclosed that 4,067 prisoners are detained because they are unable to pay fines of N1 million or less.
