4,000 Inmates Languishing in Jail Unable to Pay N500m Fines —Minister

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has said over 4,000 inmates held in custodial centres across the country were unable to pay N500 million in fines.

The minister said he had met with some private organisations to raise the money.

Tunji-Ojo assured that in the next four weeks, the fines would be cleared and the inmates would be released.

The minister spoke on Thursday during an interview on Arise News monitored by our correspondent.

He said: “Immediately I resumed, I set up a committee to review the situation at our correctional centres. We discovered that over 4,000 inmates are in custody due to their inability to pay fines which is about N500 million. We have gone far with private organisations to put this money together.

“I am sure within the next four weeks, we will be able to pay these fines for the 4,000 inmates which will help us in decongesting our custodial centres. ”

Tunji-Ojo noted that the decongestion of the custodial centres was not the sole responsibility of the ministry.

The minister said he had been discussing with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to combat the issue of awaiting trial inmates.

”The decongestion of our custodial centres is not the sole responsibility of the ministry. We are in talks with the AGF to see how cases can be expedited. We have also activated the non-custodial centres to decongest the custodial centres,” Tunji-Ojo said.