The federal government’s adoption of the recommendations on alternative justice measures will decongest correctional centres in Nigeria, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), City of David Parish, Abuja has said.
Pastor Ayodele Adewale made this appeal during the church’s visit to the Nigerian Correction Service facilities in Kuje, Gwagwalada, and Suleija.
Of the 70,797 inmates in Nigeria’s correctional centres, 70 percent are on awaiting trial, and the provision for community service and probation included in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, are yet to be implemented in the country.
As a result of this, the church said, the congestion is causing the few courts to overwork as “both magistrates and judges are humans, and there is a limit to which you can drag the human body,” he said.
“So, the government will look at a way of other dispute resolution mechanisms; minor offences can be resolved outside the courts.”
He said the family unit has a lot of responsibility to build a better society but this has been hampered by the struggle by parents to make ends meet.
The church, under its Christian Social Responsibility (CSR), as directed by the General Overseer of the church, Enoch Adeboye, donated various provisions and other items to the inmates of the correctional centres.
He said the programme was to assure the inmates of the love of God despite their present predicament.
