The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has blamed State Governors in the country for the congestion in the nation’s Correctional Centres in the country. This is as the Service said a total of 3,688 inmates are currently on death row across various correctional facilities.
This was disclosed by the Acting Comptroller-General of the NCoS, Sylvester Nwakuche. He made this disclosure during his screening before members of the Senate Committee on Interior on Wednesday.
Nwahuche was nominated earlier in the week as substantive Comptroller-General by President Bola Tinubu.
Fielding questions from the Senators, Nwakuche stated that the number of inmates on death row increased from 3,590 in September 2024 to 3,688 in March 2025. This is as he bemoaned the challenges of congestion within Nigeria’s Correctional facilities in the country.
He said, “Inmates on death row are now 3,688 from 3,590 in September 2024.
Nwakuche pointed out that Nigeria is one of the countries yet to abolish the death penalty despite pressure from groups such as Amnesty International.
He, however, noted that State Governors, who have the final power to approve the killing of death sentence inmates after judicial rulings, are reluctant to do so.
According to him, Governors’ inactions are worsening prison congestion.
He explained that the reluctance of State Governors to either execute death row inmates or commute their sentences to life imprisonment is a major reason for prison congestion.
“State Governors are part of our challenges. They refuse to execute inmates on the death row; neither do they commute their death sentence to life imprisonment,” he said.
Nwakuche explained that if these sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, the NCoS could redistribute the affected inmates to rural correctional facilities. According to him, the rural Correctional facilities are less congested compared to those in urban areas.
He said, “This is because the issue of congestion is a major urban phenomenon. Our correctional facilities in urban centres are more congested than those in rural areas. If we commute them to life sentencing, we will be able to distribute them equitably.”
Nwakuche emphasized the urgent need for collaboration with security and justice institutions to tackle the challenges of awaiting-trial inmates. This is as he noted that the absence of that has contributed significantly to prison congestion.
He said, “Many inmates have been held in correctional facilities for years without trial. Some even beyond the sentences they would have served if convicted.
“This is very important for any establishment to forge ahead. An establishment like Correctional Centres cannot do anything without collaboration. We are the ones at the recipient of the products of all the prosecuting agencies.
“When I met with the Inspector-General of Police, I said some of your inmates are in our facilities. They have stayed up to five or six years. Some of them are not needed to be in our facilities any longer.
“If they had been sentenced, some of them would not spend up to two to three years in prison. But they have stayed in our facilities for six years. For me, such persons should be discharged and acquitted. That is one area we must collaborate to decongest our facilities.”
Going forward, Nwakuche noted that he had initiated discussions with key security and legal institutions, towards reversing the development. The agencies, he said, included the Nigeria Police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), State Security Services and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
Nwakuche noted that without proper collaboration among these agencies, prison congestion would persist.
He said, “I also met the Director-General of DSS (SSS) on the need for collaboration. I met the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, for the same reason. Some of the inmates are waiting for the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution. If we do not reach out to these agencies, our people will continue to be in prisons unnecessarily.”
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, Adams Oshiomhole, assured Nwakuche that the committee would evaluate his performance and submit a report to the Senate.
Nwakuche was accompanied to the screening by top NCoS officials. These included his Principal Staff Officer, Godwin Okosun, a Deputy Controller of Corrections, Babatunde Ogundare, and Assistant Controller General Ahmed Adagiri.
source: Premium Times