State offenders congesting correctional centres, Rep Ogah
Amarachi Ehia, Abakaliki
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions, Hon. Chinedu Ogah has said that state offenders contributed to the congestion in correctional centers.
He disclosed this in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state during an oversight function of Afikpo and Abakaliki correctional centers with the committee members.
The Assembly members through Ogah revealed that 98% of the inmates at various correction service centres across the country were state offenders.
“We have written to the Chief Justice of the Federation, we have written to Chief Judges of different state of the Federation. When you go round the correction service centres across the country, 98 percent of the inmates are state offenders while the remaining 2 are only national offenders and it is very necessary we do what we can do to make sure we decongest the correction centre.
“On arrival in Ebonyi State, we visited Afikpo correction centre and we were able to pay the case file of 32 inmates which by God’s grace, the correction centre will start freeing the inmates from next week”, he said.
He lamented that some persons that have minor offences were not supposed to be in the correction centres but were remanded in the centres which he also said contribute to the congestion of the centres.
Ogah who represents Ikwo/Ezza South federal constituency revealed that the National Assembly was doing everything possible to ensure that the amount approved for inmates which he said was no longer enough to feed them was increased by the President so that the inmates would be fed properly.
