The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said yesterday that over 4,000 inmates held behind bars across the country were unable to pay N500 million in fines.
Furthermore, he reiterated his commitment to addressing the persistent issues faced by Nigerians in the diaspora when obtaining their passports.
Tunji-Ojo, speaking during an interview on Arise News, mentioned that he had engaged with private organizations to secure the necessary funds. He assured that within the upcoming four weeks, the outstanding fines would be settled, resulting in the release of the inmates.
He said: “Immediately I resumed, I set up a committee to review the situation at our prisons. We discovered that over 4,000 inmates are in custody due to their inability to pay fines which is about N500 million. We have gone far with private organizations to put this money together.”
“I am sure within the next four weeks, we will be able to pay these fines for the 4,000 inmates which will help us in decongesting our custodial centers. ”
He emphasized that prison decongestion is not solely the responsibility of his ministry, and he revealed ongoing discussions with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to address the challenges related to awaiting trial inmates.
”The decongestion of our custodial centers is not the sole responsibility of the ministry. We are in talks with the AGF to see how cases can be expedited.”
”We have also activated the non-prison centers to decongest the prisons,” the minister added.
Commits to Eliminating Passport Processing Delays
He pledged to address the prolonged delays faced by Nigerians in the diaspora when applying for passports. He shared plans to establish additional passport processing centers globally by February 2024, aimed at simplifying the passport application process for those residing abroad.
In addition to this, he guaranteed that Nigerians in the diaspora who had already provided their information would receive their passports within the next three weeks. Tunji-Ojo also emphasized that, following the resolution of domestic backlogs, his focus has now shifted to expediting passport services for overseas Nigerians.