Over 4,000 prisoners imprisoned in jails across the nation, according to Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of the interior, are unable to pay fines totaling N500 million.
He also promised to address the problems that Nigerians living abroad had getting their passports for the nth time.
In an interview with Arise News, Tunji-Ojo revealed that he had met with certain private organizations to acquire the funds and promised that the fines would be paid off and the prisoners would be let go within the following four weeks.
“As soon as I resumed, I established a committee to assess the circumstances at our prisons,” he stated. We found that more than 4,000 prisoners are detained because they are unable to pay fines totaling about N500 million.
“I am confident that we will be able to pay these fines for the 4,000 detainees over the next four weeks, which will allow us to decongest our custodial facilities.
He added that he had spoken with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, about how to address the problem of inmates awaiting trial after noting that decongestion of the prisons was not the exclusive ministry’s job.
“The ministry is not solely responsible for clearing congestion from our detention facilities. To see how cases might be accelerated, we are in discussions with the AGF.