The House of Representatives House Committee on Reformatory Institutions said it is pushing ahead its bill to establish a trust fund to manage correctional services across the states.
Rep. Chinedu Ogah, the chairman of the committee, disclosed this while speaking addressing newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said when established, the Act would mandate the three tiers of government, contribute a statutory amount from Local, State, and Federal Governments, to manage correctional services.
Ogah said the bill had passed first and second readings and called on the governors to establish correctional service in their states in order to decongest correctional center since it is now on the concurrent list.
“I have written to all the governors of the 36 states, including the Attorney General of the Federation, outlining this section of the constitution that is not being implemented by the states.
“But most of these governors have neglected this part of the law. They have defaulted on obeying the law of the land as, the amended 1999 Constitution stipulates. And this Act was enacted since 2019.
“Some NGOs have approached me about taking most of these governors to court for breaching this constitution.
“But we will continue to appeal to them to implement what the constitution says,” he said.
He said a situation where undue pressure was mounted on the federal government was not good enough for our country.
Ogah noted with concerned that people always puts pressure on the Federal Government, leaving a particular work that is supposed to be done by the states.
He said that 90 percent of the inmates in the Correctional Service Centres were held for state offences, saying only 10 percent were from the federal government.
“It is the Federal Government that bankrolls the feeding, renovation, rehabilitation, training, and reintegration of these offenders into society. Why should it be so,’’ he queried?
He said that none of the state governments had been able to put together a budget to establish a Correctional Center, adding that it was only Ebonyi State that had passed a law on this.
“Ebonyi is the only state that has started building a Correction Service Centre and we encourage other states to emulate them,” Ogah appealed.
He noted that the Correctional Services Centre now close to densely populated areas such as markets for instance; Suleja, Enugu, Taraba, and should be relocated.
NAN reports that there are 244 correctional centres spread across the country.
