FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGES STATES TO OFFSET MINOR FINES OWED BY INMATES.

The Federal Government has said that governors can offset or grant waivers to inmates with fines of less than One million as some of them are behind bars for minor offenses that can be easily waived by the states.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola disclosed this during the commissioning of a 20-bed space medical facility at Port Harcourt maximum security custodial center.

The former Governor of Osun State said while the Federal Government is finding long time solutions to the challenge of prison decongestion, the State Government can in the meantime provide basic support, like offsetting the meager fines and debts, building courthouses at the correctional services premises or try the defendants virtually from the Correctional Centers for speedy determination of cases.

He said about 5,000 inmates have been shortlisted whose reason for incarceration is a fine or a debt, not more than one million naira that is meant to be paid to the state governments.