The Federal government of Nigeria has appropriated over 613.5 billion naira (N613,462,338,602) to the Nigerian Correctional Service, formerly known as Nigerian Prisons Service, in the last ten years, a DATAPHYTE analysis has shown. In the same period, not less than N88.4 billion naira (N88,413,686,241) has been allocated for capital expenditure despite the fact that over 60 percent of the Nigerian prison population in the same period are pre-trial/remand prisoners. As a matter of fact, about 7 out of 10 inmates in prison today are awaiting trial persons. This is coupled with the increasing population of the prison every year as shown in the charts below.
The Federal Government of Nigerian just reviewed the Act that established the Nigerian Correctional Service in an effort to reform the prison sector. Though the name changed from “Prisons” to “Correctional” and a number of process reforms introduced, the unending plights of over seventy thousand prisoners, due to the congestion within the prison system, makes it doubtful to accept that congestion and access to justice are part of the agenda, the government is giving attention.
According to the Nigeria Prisons Service data, there are about 73,995 prisoners across the country with over 50,427 unconvicted prisoners. The percentage (68%) of the inmates awaiting trials emphasizes that delayed justice contributes to the problem of congestion. As shown in the table below, the population of awaiting trial persons in the last twenty years have relatively remained above 60 per cent of the entire prison population.
The worrisome statistics is inimical of the current reforms the Nigerian government puts forward by assenting to the bill which probably just changed the word “prison” in the administration’s name rather than responding to the recommendations from the ACJA. The ACJA was passed to reform the administration of the criminal justice system including the prison administration, especially with respect to inmates who are awaiting trials for years without conviction thus violating their fundamental human rights.
The population of prisoners in Nigeria suffices the country has a low incarceration rate (much less than 1% of the total population) when compared to countries with populations between 100 and 350 million people, Nigeria has the lowest prison population rate per 100,000 citizens. Nevertheless, the level of the problem of prison congestion,” characterised by overcrowding, widespread disease, poor ventilation, poor feeding and poor medical attention, These issues are outcomes of non-implementation of prison reforms recommendations to the Nigerian Prisons.
The report of these anomalies have continued without any major policy response in terms of implementation as the prisons still have cases where inmates have spent over a decade in prison awaiting judgement or even trial. For instance, Clinton Kalu who was arrested in 1993, spent 13 years in prison awaiting trial and another 14 years on death row making it 27 years in custody, Mr Hyginus Ajibo who was detained for 16 years without trials but was later released in 2014, Sikiru Alade detained for almost a decade was later released.
Despite the fact that there are fewer than 75,000 inmates across all prison facilities spread across all the 36 states and the Federal capital territory, which means correctional facilities with an average of 2,000 to 3,000 capacity in each state would solve the current problem of congestion in Nigerian prisons. In February 2018, the former Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdurahman Dambazau (Rtd) disclosed that the federal government will construct six ultra-modern prisons across the country. Eighteen months after, the first commissioned site in Kano is yet to be completed, signalling refrain on the part of the Nigerian government to resolve the congestion challenges
For instance, over the last 10 years, the capital allocated to the construction and provision of prisons has been increasing with drastic spikes since 2016. In 2016, a total of N2.64 billion was budgeted for the provision and construction of prisons while N3.27 billion for rehabilitation and repairs with 2150.9% capital change over 2015, making it the highest ever allocated to the construction of prisons. While the total of N7.07 billion was allocated in 2017 for the construction and provision of Prisons, N153.79 million was appropriated for the rehabilitation and repairs of Prisons resulting in a 3.3 per cent change.
Also, in 2018, the allocation for construction and provision of Prisons increased by about N100 million making it N8.07 billion allocated with N3.42 billion budgeted for rehabilitation and repairs of prisons (over 51.9 percentage change in capital allocation). 2019 is not an exception, N45,038,559 was allocated for the construction and provision of prisons with N224,254,971 for the rehabilitation and repairs of prisons with 37.8% capital change.
Over the last four (4) years, President Buhari’s administration has invested the highest to the provision of prisons. From the given data above, it can be deduced that an annual average change of 542.1 per cent has been spent on the construction of prisons over the last four years, making it the highest in the last 10 years.
However, there are recent reports have shown the current situation in Nigeria prisons are far from the fact that the government is spending more on inmates and the infrastructures that house them. For instance, a report published by ICIR on 9th of July states that the official record of the Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos gave credence to the claims of the inmates that they are forced to sleep on each other for lack of sleeping space. According to it, the record states that the 1,700 capacity facility hosts 3,912 inmates.
Another report by RIPPLES this year states that there was an attempted jailbreak by prisoners and it was gathered that life in Keffi prison is unbearable and inmates could not bear the hardship as the government has not made provisions for their adequate feedings. The report recorded the shortage of potable water and sewage disposal system.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT
Over the years, the Nigerian prison has experienced various reforms program initiated by the government. These initiations are either to address the problem of overcrowding, congestion, improving the lives of inmates and ensure the proper rehabilitation of inmates.
The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA) was passed to reform the administration of the criminal justice system including the prison administration, especially with respect to inmates who are awaiting trials for years without conviction thus violating their fundamental human rights. To get this done, the National Assembly has collaborated with civil society organisations such as Prisons Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), Rule of Law and Anti- Corruption (ROLAC) amongst others. The general tone of the Acts sees human dignity as the most important feature.
By Section 10(1) of the Criminal Penal Code, the police could arrest anyone without a warrant but by the virtue of the ACJ Act, according to Section 2(2), the police cannot arrest any suspect without a warrant and anything that goes against this would be seen as ‘Unlawful arrest’.
Section 296 of the ACJ Act provides that a suspect shall not be remanded for more than 14 days at first instance and renewable for another 14 days where good cause is shown. At the expiration of the second term of 14 days and the suspect has still not been arraigned before the relevant court, the judge may grant bail to the suspect upon a request for such. Failure of the detaining authorities to grant bail will attract a summons from the court authorities to the Inspector -General to explain the reason for the continued detention.
Section 10 of the ACJ act deals mainly with ‘Plea bargain’. Under the Act, plea bargain means the process in criminal proceedings whereby the defendant and the prosecution work out a mutually acceptable disposition of the case; including the plea of the defendant to a lesser offence than that charged in the complaint or information and in conformity with other conditions imposed by the prosecution, in return for a lighter sentence than that for the higher charge subject to the Court’s approval. The Act empowers the prosecution to enter into a plea bargain with the defendant, with the consent of the victim during or after the presentation of the evidence of the prosecution, but before the presentation of the evidence of the defence. This provision of the law helps in quick dispensation of justice and saves the time and resources that would have been wasted in the trial.
CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATION
Having good laws is not enough but their effective implementation matters. For years, criminal justice has been bogged down by delays and archaic administrative methods. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 was enacted to solve the problems and the law has been noted for its objectives and reformatory provisions but things have remained the same for 4 years.
In 2018, Justice M.A. Owoade of the Court of Appeal said in the maiden ceremony of Professor Adedokun Adebayo Adeyemi Foundation (PAAAF) Annual Lecture Series at the University of Lagos that it would be difficult to realise the objectives of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act(ACJA) if the law’s inherent challenges are not tackled. He further noted that
‘’It is imperative for overall effectiveness and efficacy of the criminal justice system for the ACJA to be replicated in the states of the federation. The state governments must, therefore, be encouraged to replicate the ACJA in their various states’’
As of 2018, only eleven (11) states out of the thirty-six (36) states of the Federation have passed this Act in their jurisdiction. These states include Kaduna, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos, Oyo, Rivers, Anambra, Enugu, Cross-Rivers, Abuja and Akwa Ibom respectively.
The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory Justice Isaq Bello said during the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Fifth Criminal Justice Reform Conference in Asaba that the ‘implementation of the ACJA is cost-intensive’. He further explained that the aims and objectives of the ACJA will not be achieved without adequate funding.
The Act with poor funding and player’s unwillingness to adapt to change and make the law work won’t help in the effectiveness of the law. For instance, the police stations are required to video record suspects’ statements but there is a lack of facilities. The Act provides for speedy determination of cases and day to day trials yet there are still delays despite the law allows for non-custodial sentencing. Already 68% of inmates are ones awaiting trials. Therefore, the Federal government should try as much as possible to adhere to the ACJ Act so that decongestion can be achieved.
Based on the critical findings from the chart above, it is discovered that more allocations are pumped into the Recurrent capital instead of the Capital allocation. A report by PREMIUM TIMES stated that this year, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a contract of N2.8 billion for the installation of a digital web-based integrated system in order to aid prison decongestion in Nigeria. The Federal Government through the Ministry of Interior should focus more on the establishment of more prisons and the upgrading of the existing ones in order to improve the welfare of the inmates.