He said 41 federal prisoners affected, and 29 others will be released from the Kuje Correctional Center in Abuja on Wednesday in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) totalling 70.
The federal government says it is releasing 2,600 prisoners in separate prisons to prevent coronavirus spread.
In a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola declared that the government had agreed to grant amnesty to the inmates.
He said sick and elderly prisoners were among those to be released.
ntal issues, and with fine choices not exceeding N50,000.
He said 41 federal prisoners affected, and 29 others will be released from the Kuje Correctional Center in Abuja on Wednesday in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) totalling 70.
“This amnesty will not apply to inmates sentenced for violent extreme offences such as terrorism, kidnapping, armed banditry, rape, human trafficking, culpable homicide and so on,” said the Minister.
He said the governors of the 36 states under whose control most of the prisoners have been incarcerated should complete the exercise in compliance with the federal standard.
Amnesty comes on the heels of calls on the government from various organizations like Amnesty International (AI) to decongest the jails in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Prisoners and detainees at police and military facilities across Nigeria are at risk of contracting COVID-19 as they are held in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions that can be even more deadly in the hot weather,” Osai Ojigho, AI director in Nigeria, had said
Source: The gazette
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