Obaseki mulls 50-hectare correctional centre in Edo

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo, says his administration is working on a 50-hectare correctional centre to strengthen the justice system in the state.

Obaseki disclosed this during a courtesy visit to him by members of the Presidential Committee on Prisons Reform and Decongestion, in Benin on Wednesday.

He also told the committee led by the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Hon. Justice Ishaq Bello, that he was in support of the ongoing prison reform and decongestion by the Federal Government.

The governor said that the Nigeria’s democracy would not thrive without an effective justice system.

He said that his administration was committed to providing needed support to make the entire judicial process more efficient.

He stressed that achievements recorded by his administration were largely due to enforcement of law and order in the state.

He noted that for law and order to be complete, the prison system must be looked into.

“As a state, we are committed to reforms of the prison system.

“We have decided to acquire 50 hectares of land to establish a correctional center.

“We are committing large expanse of land to enable us see our prisons as more of correctional centres,” he said.

According to him, the state government is in talks with Nigeria Prisons Service, Headquarters in Abuja, to design a correctional centre which will provide space for more vocational and educational facilities to assist inmates.

Obaseki said that his administration was determined to reduce the number of inmates awaiting trial by more than 50 per cent.

He urged the committee to develop a sustainable system that would provide solutions to the challenge of overcrowding in prisons nationwide.

He said that the state government’s human capacity development initiative, EdoJobs, was ready to partner the NPS, in training inmates to prepare them for reintegration into society.

Earlier, Justice Bello said that the committee was inaugurated with the task of moving round prisons in the country and recommending ways to decongest them.

Bello noted that Edo was the 14th state the committee had visited.

He said “Our task is to go around to see what we can do to deplete the numerical strength of persons behind bars and this too includes areas where there are options of fines as imposed by various courts.”

He advocated for skill acquisition facilities to be made available for inmates to prepare them life outside the prisons.