April 19, (THEWILL) – No fewer than 3,298 inmates across the custodial centres in Nigeria are on death row, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) said on Wednesday.
Public Relations Officer of the Service, Abubakar Umar, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, in Abuja, also said the Service has abrogated the term ‘condemned criminal’, initially used to refer to ‘Inmates on Death Row (IDR)’
Umar explained that with the emergence of the NCoS Act 2019, which made the prisons Correctional Centres, the term ‘condemned criminal’ was abrogated, adding that the Service preferred to use a more friendly term of ‘Inmates on Death Row (IDR)’.
Umar said death sentences were not always carried out immediately after they were imposed.
“There are often long periods of uncertainty for the convicted while their cases are being appealed at higher levels. Inmates awaiting execution live on what we call death row; some offenders have been executed more than 15 years after their convictions. They were basically awaiting the hangman’s noose in our custodial centres after being found guilty of capital offences.
“We have quite a number of them, as at today, we have a total of 3,298 inmates on death row. They constitute about 4.5 per cent of the total number of inmates in our various custodial centres nationwide,” he disclosed.
According to the NCoS Spokesman, some IDRs had been in custody for many years, adding that some had been there since they were arrested up to when they were tried and sentenced.
Umar said many of them committed capital offences including culpable homicide, armed robbery, and terrorism, among others.
“The good thing is that we engage all of them in activities that will reform and modify their behaviours. The goal is to make them better citizens of the nation.
“We also make them undergo personal development programmes like anger management, civic education as well as entrepreneurship.
“Some of them, who do well and show some glimpse of hard work, industry and discipline, are recommended for clemency to the relevant authorities,” he said.
The Spokesman said that many IDRs had been executed in the past before the proliferation of the activities of human rights groups and organisations.
“Currently, there is somewhat a kind of moratorium on execution of offenders. Before the moratorium on execution of IDRs became widespread, executions of IDRs were being carried out as and at when due.
“But, with the rising activities of human rights groups, many governments shy away from signing the death warrants of these offenders. Though it is still in practice, it is not as common as it used to be. The last execution of IDRs was carried out in 2016 in Edo.
“We encourage state governors, who shy away from signing the death warrants, to commute them into other sanctions,” he said.
