Prior to the outbreak of CoronaVirus in Nigeria, I had cause to visit one of the facilities of the Nigerian Correctional Service (the erstwhile Nigerian Prisons Service) on official assignment. This certainly was not my first time. As a matter of fact, I have been to Kiri-Kiri, Ikoyi, Makurdi and Calabar Prisons at various times in the line of duty. Having visited some of these facilities pre and post change of name, it is my candid opinion that the only change that has taken place so far is just the nomenclature. In other words, the deplorable condition of most of the facilities and horrible state of inmates are still begging for drastic reforms.
Being naturally curious, I seized the opportunity to reflect on the startling statistics on their State Board and possibly interact with some of the officials and inmates.Sadly, available record revealed that about 75 percent of the inmates were those awaiting trials and some of them have even overstayed the maximum terms of imprisonment prescribed under the law.
You can be rest assured that there is definitely no provision for compensation for such inmates who are being held unlawfully in custody as a result of the failure of the system. Equally worrisome is the fact that even if the court eventually finds some of those awaiting trial inmates not guilty after several years in detention, there would not be any compensation from the authorities for the unlawful incarceration. You do not need to be a lawyer to understand that this is an injustice to such victims of failure in our criminal justice administration.
Beside curiosity, I felt I could explore possibility of facilitating the release of a couple of inmates with genuine cases that require intervention. For instance, I was informed of a few inmates who were in detention due to inability to perfect their bail conditions or pay the option of fine granted by the court. Unfortunately, some of the fines were even as low as N50,000.00 while some awaiting trial inmates remain in custody due to inability to afford the services of a lawyer.
I am of the view that these are some of the genuine cases that require intervention from kind hearted people. I therefore urge Nigerian Bar Association, Corporate Bodies, the Legal Aid Council, Non- Governmental Organizations and people of goodwill to intervene in the collective efforts at decongesting Nigerian prisons.
During my one – on – one interaction, I asked a few of the inmates their topmost need assuming I have powers to grant of their requests. Expectedly, the responses I got were the same: they all need personal liberty. They are in need of urgent release from the dungeon called prisons. They need their freedom of movement restored. In their present parlous condition, after life, what they crave most is liberty. Money, cars, houses and luxuries are no priorities to someone in confinement.
To be honest, most of the prisons in our clime are in deplorable state which are unfit for human habitation. Some of the facilities were built as far back as the colonial era and are yet to undergo any major renovation. In addition, these facilities are overcrowded. The environment and living conditions in our prisons are bad enough to make an inmate worse off even after release from detention. This is beside the fact that some of them die while in detention due to some of the aforementioned challenges.Just imagine the magnitude of disaster that would happen if Covid 19 breaks out in any of our overcrowded prisons. That is why some civilized countries have decided to grant temporary reprieve to prisons inmates in the wake of the outbreak of coronavirus. This is to forestall avoidable colossal disaster in case of outbreak of the pandemic in prisons.
Beyond the change of name, there is the palpable need for real reforms in our criminal justice administration beginning with the prisons. It is equally disheartening to state that several persons are languishing in detention for offences they never committed. Some persons were mere victims of circumstances. Some were victims of mass arrests and raids by law enforcement agencies, especially the Nigeria Police and probably ended up in prisons because they could not ‘bail’ themselves or have nobody to stand for them. The reality remains that administrative BAIL is still not free in Nigeria despite the chant of bail is free from some quarters.
I observe that most of the inmates involved in economic related crimes such as armed robbery, kidnapping, stealing, corruption and fraud (popularly known as 419 or yahoo yahoo), were partly driven by greed and avarice and not necessarily poverty or unemployment as in the case of petty thieves. The quest to make it big by all means (by hook or by crook) outside the old fashioned and long painful route of hard work, honest and legitimate means has become the nemesis of most youths and politically exposed persons in prisons.
While it is conceded that the times are hard given the ravaging widespread insecurity, poverty, unemployment and myriad of challenges in the country, methinks crimes should not necessarily be an option. This is because there are still other legitimate means one can earn a decent living without resort to criminalities. I must state that development in information technology, particularly the social media is not helping matters. Social media has become a platform for promoting fake lifestyle and unrestrained display of affluence and thereby putting so many youths under undue pressure to do anything imaginable in order to join the ‘league of big boys and big girls’ in the society. This often comes with the resultant surge in economic crimes. It is in this regard that internet fraud has become an easy way out of poverty for several youths of this generation and this is exacerbated by moral decadence and failure in leadership at all levels.
Besides, the call for prisons reform is necessitated by the recent outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic across the world. We are all aware of the rapid spread of Coronavirus without regard for class, status, religion or borders. This has also brought to the fore the magnitude of infrastructural decay and deficit in our health system, especially on the continent of Africa. Most of our isolation centres are inadequate and the few available ones are unfit for human habitation. Sadly, several members of the political class and leaders are not being spared of the scourge of coronavirus. Unfortunately, none of them can be flown abroad because even the countries with the best of medical facilities are not spared of coronavirus and some of them are overwhelmed. The stark reality is that almost every country is on lockdown in a bid to curtail the spread of the deadly virus. Therefore, any infected person, especially among the ruling elite in Nigeria, no matter how highly placed would be quarantined in one of our dilapidated medical facilities. Such a person would be confronted with the consequences of the rot and neglect in our health system.
Regrettably, I read some comments on social media on how some of the members of the public are rejoicing over the sad news of some highly placed persons in Nigeria who have tested positive to coronavirus. Which such sadistic attitude is reprehensible, I think it is a wakeup call to leaders at all levels, especially in Nigeria to emplace good governance and embark on massive investment infrastructure.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Please stay safe!
– Benjamin Atanu Achimugu sent this piece from Abuja via benjaminachimugu@nigerianbar.ng
