The Nigerian Correctional Service said 53, 836 inmates in the 253 correctional centres nationwide are awaiting trial as of December18.

The spokesperson for the service, Assistant Controller of Corrections, Abubakar Umar said this in Abuja on Thursday.

Mr Umar said that summary of the inmates across the country by conviction and those on awaiting trial list were 77,849 within the period under review.

He put the number of convicted inmates at 24, 013 persons, “adding that the convicted male inmates were 23,569 and 444 convicted females respectively.

He said, “Statistics shows that 69 per cent of the inmates in custodial centres are awaiting trial while 31 per cent are convicted inmates.’’

Mr Umar said that one of the challenges of the service was the issues of dilapidated custodial structures which resulted in overcrowded and congested spaces within the centres.

He said that the government recently constructed 3,000 ultra modern additional custodial facilities across the six geopolitical zones to decongest existing centres.

He said the initiative would help in decongesting the centres and enhance the welfare and the health of the inmates.

He added, “That of Kano has been inaugurated and we are expecting speedy completion on the remaining facilities under construction. The ongoing construction of Abuja and the Portharcourt centres had reached completion stages and they would soon be inaugurated.’’

He appreciated the Federal Government for raising N585 million towards the settlement of fines for inmates to decongest correctional centres across the country.

He also lauded the recent effort of the Federal Government for releasing 4,068 inmates serving various jail terms.

(NAN)