As a way of decongesting the overcrowded prisons and stemming the rising tide of jailbreaks across the country, the 36 state governors recently rose from a meeting under the aegis of the Governors’ Forum with a matching order for the execution of inmates on death row. The governors said the failure to sign death warrants for sometime now was due to lack of courage on their part.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Governor Theodore Orij of Abia State who spoke on behalf of his colleagues said the government needs to receive recommendations from prison officials before they can implement the step. He added that the death sentence can apply to those found guilty of a number of offences, such as murder, kidnapping and armed robbery. “We agreed that those people who have been condemned should be executed accordingly,” he explained.
Since the revelation by the governors, there has been increasing pressure both locally and internationally for them not to carry out the order. For sometime now, the issue of overcrowded prisons has occupied the front burner. The issue became much more intense recently with the rising cases of commercially motivated kidnapping and other crime, including frequent jailbreaks. That the prisons are overcrowded due to the overwhelming number of awaiting trial inmates is no longer news.
Data from the Nigerian Prisons Service show that out of a total number of about 42,000 inmates nationally, 79 per cent have not been convicted as they still await trial. Of this number, a little less than 1,000 are on death row. The logical question many observers are asking is how much space the elimination of 0.20 per cent inmates will create in the multitudes that are in our prisons?
Source: This Day Online, July 11, 2010
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