By HENRY UMORU
…asks Legal Aid Council to take over project
ABUJA—THE Senate, yesterday, accused the Federal Government of spending N8, 723,12,391:66 on prison decongestion with little to show for it. The Senate also declared, that the programme which is under the Ministry of Justice is expensive and not sustainable, just as it directed the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Justice to take over the prisons decongestion programme.
According to the Senate, with the coming into effect of the Re-enactment Act 2011, the Legal Aid Council, has been repositioned for effective and efficient performance, adding that “the Legal Aid Council, which has the statutory mandate to represent indigent Nigerians, if well funded, can effectively discharge this mandate on a sustainable basis rather than embark on an interventionist programme that was to all intent and purposes unsustainable.”
The resolutions of the Senate followed the report presented by the Senator Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto South)- led Joint Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal M atters, Interior and Police Affairs on the plight of persons awaiting trial in Nigerian prisons.
Presenting the report, the Chairman of the committee, Senator Umaru Dahiru, said the prisons decongestion programme had failed despite the huge sum of money sunk into it, adding, “since 2006 till date, a whopping N8.7 billion has so far been expended on the programme with little to show for it.”
The Senate also approved the amendment of the constitution to remove the prisons from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list to allow states build and maintain prisons, just as it also approved an increase in the funding of the Nigeria Prisons Service to address the problem of infrastructural decay and boost the welfare of inmates and prison officers.
State governors and chief judges of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory were further mandated to visit any prison in their respective states at least twice a year in exercise of the power of prerogative of mercy.
The Economic and Financi al Crimes Commission, EFCC, ICPC, Director General of State Security Services, SSS, Inspector General of Police and other law enforcement agencies were asked to train their officials on effective and efficient investigation before arrests and detentions were made to check incidences of unnecessary arrests.
Confirms appointment of 2 Supreme Court judges
In a related development, the Senate yesterday confirmed the appointment of Justices Clara Ogunbiyi and Musa Muhammed as justices of the Supreme Court.
In a related development, the Senate yesterday confirmed the appointment of Justices Clara Ogunbiyi and Musa Muhammed as justices of the Supreme Court.
