Jail decongestion: 4,000 in jail because they are unable to pay fines — Interior Minister Tunji-Ojo

In an effort to decongest custodial centres in the country, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has said over 4,000 inmates are currently in custodial centres across the country and unable to pay N500 million in fines.

Tunji-Ojo made this revelation during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday.

The Minister said he had met with some private organisations to raise the money.

Tunji-Ojo assured that in the next four weeks, the fines would be cleared and the inmates would be released.

He said, “Immediately I resumed, I set up a committee to review the situation at our correctional centres.”

“We discovered that over 4,000 inmates are in custody due to their inability to pay fines which is about N500 million. We have gone far with private organisations 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 in decongesting our custodial centres.”

The Minister added that the decongestion of the custodial centres is not the sole responsibility of the ministry.

He said 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 centres 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-custodial centres to decongest the custodial centres,” he said.