Senate proposes legislation to break FG’s monopoly of prisons

The Senate on Wednesday, said it was working to break the current Federal Government’s monopoly of ownership, control and management of prisons across various states of the federation.

According to the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu who made the disclosure when he presided at plenary, the new amendment will remove the ownership, control and operations of prisons from the current Exclusive List of the Constitution to the Concurrent.

Ekweremadu said when the bill is passed, state governments and other stakeholders in the country, including individuals, will be licensed to build and operate prisons, rather than the current structure where the Federal Government has full monopoly of prisons’ operations.

Ekweremadu was reacting to three amendment bills on prison reforms, sponsored individually by Senators Shaba Lafiagi, Babajide Omoworare and Oluremi Tinubu.

In her lead debate, Senator Tinubu, said incidences of women going to serve jail term while they are pregnant or nursing infants is known to many nations of the world. She said while some nations have found solutions to the problem by way of legislation, Nigeria has left these matters to chance.

She advocated for special accommodation to meet prenatal and postnatal needs of pregnant inmates, designate structures as nursery to be staffed by qualified persons where the infants shall be placed when they are not in the care of their mothers

She further advocated that the fight against stigmatisation of babies born in prison must be stopped by providing that the circumstances of their birth shall not be included in their birth certificate.

She noted: “My colleagues in the seventh Assembly would recall that the plight of infants in prisons gave cause for concern which prompted the members of the Women Affairs Committee of the Senate to embark on an oversight visit to Suleja prisons in 2013 where members expressed their concern and pledged assistance.”

Senators Shehu Sani, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Chukwuka Utazi and others who contributed, spoke in favour of the three amendments. They argued that no serious prisons reforms have been carried out since independence and therefore urged for the easy passage of the three bills.

At the end of the debate, the three bills were harmonized and subsequently referred to the committees on Interior and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters. The two committees are expected to report back within four weeks.

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