Afrigather By AFP – Agence France Presse
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Hundreds of detainees throughout Nigeria have been launched from jail in an effort to deal with overcrowding, inside minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo mentioned Saturday on social media.
The transfer marks a part of a drive by Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was elected earlier this 12 months, to decongest Nigeria’s overpopulated prisons.
“Yesterday, we flagged off the discharge of 4,068 of the 80,804 inmates in our 253 correctional services nationwide, who’ve been held in custody attributable to their lack of ability to pay fines,” Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo posted in an announcement on X, previously Twitter.
He made the announcement after visiting the Kuje detention centre close to the capital Abuja.
The ministry’s spokesman Ajibola Afonja instructed AFP that “solely inmates whose fines don’t exceed a million naira have been chosen to learn from this mass launch.”
Afonja added that fines totalling 585 million naira (651,000 euros) have been cancelled.
Tinubu has made a part of his focus whereas in energy the combination of recent practices within the jail system together with extra non-custodial sentences.
The United Nations says that Nigerian prisons have an overpopulation fee of 147 p.c, and detainees can typically wait years earlier than being tried.
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