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The Senate Committee on Interior on Wednesday vowed to increase the daily cost of a prisoner in Nigeria from N450 to N1, 000.
The Committee also promised to meet with the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Tanko Muhammad on the need to decongest the 66,000 population of prison inmates in Nigeria Custodial Centres.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Kashim Shettima, stated this during a 2022 budget defence session by the authorities of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS).
The Acting Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS),Haliru Nababa, in his presentation before the Committee during 2022 budget defence session, proposed an increase in the amount for daily food ration to prison inmates from N450 to N750, citing high cost of food items.
According to him, out of the 66,346 total inmates in Custodial Centres across the country, 47,959 are awaiting trial.
This, he lamented, made most of the Custodial Centres to be overcrowded and fall below the international standard of Correctional Services.
The Chairman and members of the Committee kicked against the N750 daily food ration proposed for each of the inmates across the country.
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Senator Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu North), said the sum of N750, going by the value of the Naira today and the rising cost of food items is inadequate.
“You are dealing with adults. How can they survive with that amount? When you send convicts to prisons, instead of reforming them, they become more hardened because of the way they are treated, particularly food.
“Mr Chairman, I will urge this committee to increase the proposed N750 feeding cost per day for each of the inmates at the Custodial centres to at least N1,000.00 because no grown up adult Nigerian can survive with N750 per day as far as feeding is concerned,” Utazi said.
Senator Betty Apiafi (Rivers West) said the N1,000 proposed should be the minimum and must be reflected in the final budget to be passed for the Correctional Service.
The Committee Chairman accordingly ruled in favour of the motion by hitting the gavel on the table to that effect.
