The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACON) has announced plans to assign lawyers free of charge to 42 inmates of the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, FCT.
According to a statement by the Assistant Director of Press, Amaka Agbai, the assignment of lawyers is part of efforts to decongest the prisons and give hope to voiceless Nigerians in line with the government’s directive.
According to her, the team of lawyers and paralegals led to the facility by the Director General of the council, Aliyu Abubakar =, represented by the Acting Director-in-Charge of the FCT office, Barrister Okwuegbu Egenti, found that the 42 inmates, who did not have legal representation, were involved majorly in drugs related, theft, murder and conspiracy.
“About 30 of the inmates interviewed are youths who smoke and peddle various kinds of drugs and most of them have spent nothing less than six months before coming to Kuje Custodial Centre,” she said.
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LACON also pleaded with the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike to build juvenile centres for minors, who have been arrested for offences, to prevent their being mixed up with adult inmates in the cells.