The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Chairman, Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee (ACJMC), Justice Ishaq Bello, has called for urgent actions to decriminalize petty offenses.
Bello who spoke at the “Dissemination Workshop on Baseline Report on Decriminalization and Declassification of Petty Offences in Nigeria”, said this would greatly contribute to prison decongestion and reduced arbitrary arrests and detentions by law enforcement agencies.
The workshop was organised by the Prisoners Rehabilitation And Welfare Action (PRAWA) and the Open Society Justice Initiatives (OSIWA).
He also warned that the incessant arrest of traders by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), police and other security agencies would push them to higher crimes.
He decried development where petty offenders whose wares are not up to N250 are arrested, detained and fined N5,000.
According to him, there must be a redefining of a more descent way of punishing offenders, as the present practice is dehumanizing and wicked and arresting children who are helping their parents to sell without which they cannot feed and tagging them as ex-convicts after sending them to prison for failure to pay the fines, will stigmatize them in future.
