The Nigeria Prisons Services
(NPS) has said the large number of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
members being remanded in various prison facilities in the South-East and
South-South regions have further stretched the inadequate correctional
facilities in the regions.
The Assistant Comptroller General
in charge of Zone E, comprising of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Imo
and Rivers, with headquarters in Owerri, Alloy Uchenwa, said this when he
addressed journalists in Umuahia yesterday.
According to him, over 100 IPOB
members are currently remanded in various prisons in the zone from where they
go to court to face trial following the clash with soldiers who invaded the
home of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, last month.
“It was a miracle yesterday how
we were able to convey 100 IPOB members to court,” Uchenwa said.
The prison boss, who explained
that he was in Abia State as part of his routine inspection of facilities in
commands under his zone, said inadequate logistics as one of the major
challenges of the prisons and appealed to individuals, organisations and
governments to come to the assistance of the zone.
He also identified prison
congestion as another challenge confronting the service, saying a situation
where “more than 90 per cent of inmates are awaiting trial was worrisome.”
Uchenwa called for the building
of more prison yards to ease the challenge of overcrowding, adding that a
situation where cells for 500 are being occupied by 1,000 inmates was not
conducive.
He said he had raised the issue
of prison congestion with Abia State Attorney-General and Commissioner for
Justice, Chief Umeh Kalu (SAN), who he said promised to do something.
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