There was uproar on the floor of the Senate on Thursday, December 7, as the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Haliru Nababa, revealed that the department spends more money to feed each of its security dogs than it does on each inmate.
Answering questions during a budget defence with the National Assembly Joint Committee on the Interior, Nababa said the Correctional Service spends N750 per day on feeding for each of its 81,358 inmates while it maintains each of its 900 dogs at a daily cost of N800 per day.
The Chairman of the committee demanded a breakdown of inmate numbers, their feeding regime, and the expenses associated with maintaining security dogs.
Nababa revealed that there are 81,358 inmates in all correctional centres across the country, 53,362 of which are awaiting trial inmates. He clarified that each of these inmates is fed thrice a day at the cost of N250 per meal (N750 per day), while the service maintains 900 security dogs, spending N800 to feed each dog per day.
The Committee strongly criticised the Correctional Service for its inhumane treatment of inmates. It noted the inadequacies and deplorable conditions faced by inmates, emphasising that it would not hastily approve any budget until satisfactory explanations were provided.
The Committee challenged the feasibility of feeding inmates at N750 per day, citing the market prices of essential items and the inability of such an allocation to cater to basic needs adequately.
Following the Committee’s outrage, Nababa appealed to lawmakers for assistance, revealing a request to the President for an increase in daily feeding allowances to N3,000 per inmate.
The effect of the outrage expressed by the Committee, however, comes into question considering that such outrage and assurances of redress have been expressed over and again in years past, only for the status quo to continue when once the dust had settled.
It is clear that a major problem with Nigeria’s correctional centres is overpopulation. The country’s 240 correctional centres have capacity for 50,083 inmates but are housing 81,358. It is likewise clear that the overpopulation is caused by inordinate numbers of awaiting trial inmates.
If 55,362 of the 81,358 inmates in Nigeria’s correctional centres nationwide are awaiting trial, according to Nababa, it then means that the number of actual convicted inmates is 27,992 or 34 percent, while awaiting trials are 66 percent. It likewise follows that if the awaiting trial inmates could get prompt hearings, many of them would likewise be promptly discharged. This would deconngest the correctional centres, freeing up more funds to feed fewer mouths and improve the quality and quantity of food per inmate.
It is a well-known fact that one major reason that awaiting trial inmates overwhelm the correctional centres is that the correctional service is short on funding to source and service vehicles, fuel and other logistics to present awaiting trial inmates in court for hearing and subsequent conviction or acquittal.
Nigeria’s erstwhile Minister of the Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, had said before vacating office that one sure and effective way of decongesting the country’s correctional lock-ups would be to try the defendants virtually from the Correctional Centres for speedy determination of cases. This would then eliminate the need to provide transportation and security to the courts, which is a major challenge for the correctional system and has been at the root of the frequent failures of inmates to meet court appointments.
Though the immediate cost of infrastructure for this virtual court facility may be a concern, in the long run it would be cheaper. This is considering that feeding 81,358 inmates even at the paltry sum of N750 per inmate per day amounts to N61,018,500 per day and N22,271,752,500 per year. Furthermore, the cost of feeding 900 dogs at N800 per day comes to N720,000 per day and N262,800,000 per year. The total sum for feeding inmates and dogs per year is then N22.535 billion.
The frugality of the virtual court system becomes clearer when it is considered that the infrastructure required would be a one-off and only to be replaced after long spells, while feeding will be done thrice per day, year in, year out.
Let’s spare a thought for the wellbeing of the hapless inmates, for the cost, without due benefit to government, of feeding 53,362 awaiting trial inmates daily, many of whom should not be there if the system runs seamlessly.
Above all, let us recall that justice delayed is justice denied.
