NBS: 73% of Nigeria’s prison population un-sentenced

A staggering percentage, about 73%, of Nigeria’s prison population is un-sentenced. The facts are contained in a report recently published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The figures are for 2015.

“Overall, 72.53 percent of the prison population during the period under reference were un-sentenced,” NBS said.

According to the Bureau, Lagos State has the highest number of un-sentenced detainees. Of the 6,522 detainees, 5,603 were un-sentenced prisoners. Lagos was followed by Rivers and Edo states with 3,625 and 2,434 un-sentenced detainees respectively.

The statistics released by NBS also showed that Yobe and Borno states had the least numbers of un-sentenced detainees of 163 and 216 of a prison population of 562 and 603 respectively.

The Nigerian prison and judicial systems have been severally criticized not just for the large number of detainees awaiting trial but by the sheer size of endemic corrupt practices. Often detainees are poorly housed and fed in spite of huge resources allocated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs which caters for prisoners.

The Buhari-led government is currently prosecuting 8 justices of the Supreme Court for alleged corruption.

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