The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has called for state governments’ cooperation in tackling congestion in custodial facilities across the country. He said the facilities were 22 per cent overcrowded above their capacity.
The minister said these in Lagos on Saturday while inaugurating the Zone A office complex and the ICT hub provided for inmates of the medium custodial centre by a non-governmental organisation, Anchor Heritage Initiative.
The minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Shuaib Belgore, said facilities across the country currently had a population of 74,632 inmates whereas the facilities have the capacity for 57,278 inmates.
He stated, “We will need the cooperation of state governments in addressing this challenge. The overwhelming majority of offenders are state offenders being tried by their respective state governments.
“One main challenge of the Correctional Service, therefore, is congestion of the custodial facilities. The entire national custodial facilities have a maximum capacity of 57,278 inmates, but at the last count earlier in the week, there is a total population of 74,632 inmates made up of 72,964 males and 1,668 females. We have therefore shot above the capacity by 22 per cent.
