The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, has secured release of 39 inmates, awaiting trials for over 10 years at Keffi Custodian Centre, Nasarawa .
Mr Aliyu Abubakar, Director General (DG) of the council, made the disclosure while addressing members of staff of Nasarawa State Ministry of Justice, on Friday in Lafia.
He explained that through reports, the council discovered over 40 inmates awaiting trial in Keffi custodian centre, who had been dumped for over 10 years without any progress on their cases.
“Though the cases were from the Federal Capital Territory, but at the moment, we have been able to get 39 of them out of the custodian centre,’’ the DG added.
He said the council was currently offering free legal services to a lot of indigent inmates and people across the country, in line with their mandate.
He assured the public that the council would not rest, but would continue to provide free legal services to those who could not afford their fees, whether they were in detention or free.
The DG, therefore, expressed gratitude to the Nasarawa government for providing the council with a befitting office accommodation in Lafia and other assistance.
On his part, Mr Abdulkarim Kana, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of Nasarawa, said the government would partner the council, to ensure justice to indigent inmates in the state.
According to Kana, the partnership is imperative, due to similarity of their functions to ensure justice, with a view to decongesting custodian centres in the state.
The commissioner explained that the ministry with only 42 lawyers, was working round the clock to ensure that all cases handled by them were prosecuted on time, to avoid delaying justice.
He said the ministry already had departments that rendered free legal services on daily basis, on issues of domestic violence.
“We have a department that settles threat of domestic violence, before the crime is actually committed,’’ he said.
The commissioner also disclosed that the ministry was developing a portal for inmates to monitor their activities, to ascertain when they were admitted or released from custodian centres.
He explained that the portal would also help to monitor and ensure that inmates were always taken to court, to avoid dumping of suspects in the custodian centres for many years.
The commissioner also said that in order to decongest the custodian centres, the ministry had set up a committee to workout modalities for plea bargaining, as contained in the amended criminal justice laws of the state.
According to the commissioner, the new arrangement will enable inmates who have spent long time awaiting trials, to agree with their counsels on alternative charges, so as to get quick convictions for them.
“It’s better for them to be convicted than awaiting trials for many years,” he said.
Kana said the amnesty programme and the plea bargain initiative, would help decongest the correctional centres and ensure quick dispensation of justice. (NAN)
