John Mrabure, acting comptroller-general of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), says overcrowding remains a major problem confronting the service.
Speaking at an event organised by Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) in Abuja, Mrabure said staff of the service are not acquainted with the full provisions of NCS Act 2019, which provides for non-custodial sentencing.
He added that its personnel require training to grasp the full potential of the law.
Non-custodial sentence is punishment given by a court of competent jurisdiction that does not involve a prison term.
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Tunde Oladipo, deputy comptroller-general of corrections/non-custodial directorate, who also spoke at the event, blamed the directorate’s inability to fully implement the non-custodial sentencing on paucity of funds.
He asked stakeholders to assist the directorate with funding to enable the department to carryout its mandate.
On his part, Edwin Anayo, chairman house of representatives committee on reformatory institutions, said the national assembly is working to make budgetary provisions for the non-custodial directorate.
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He said funding will be provided for the directorate when the next budget is prepared.
“The committee is passionate about proper functioning of the service, in line with global best practice on correctional matters. I want to assure you in this gathering, that the non budgetary allocation of these non custodial directorate will soon be over,” he said.
“Non custodial measures provides grater possibility for rehabilitation and constructive reintegration of offenders into the society.”
Uju Agomoh, executive director PRAWA, said the objective of the workshop is to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework that can be used to track the effective implementation of non-custodial measures in Nigeria.
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