Cost of feeding awaiting trial inmates now N5.5bn yearly

The Metropolitan Grand Knights of Saint Mulumba has said the cost of feeding  awaiting trial inmates in Nigeria had risen to N5.5billion per year.

Head of the group, Sir Patrick Ikemefuna, disclosed this at the prison reform conference on administration of Nigerian criminal justice and reform of the penal code organised by the group in Lagos.

He said Nigeria currently had over 30,000 awaiting trial inmates, with cost of feeding them put at N15 million per day.

According to him, of the 45,000 inmates in the Nigerian prisons, about 30,000 are awaiting trial, leading to prisons’ congestion.

He added that Ikoyi prisons was designed to accommodate 400 inmates but noted that at present, there were about 1,600 inmates in the prison, while some inmates had spent up to 10 years without trial.

Ikemefuna also noted that some of the inmates had spent between five and 19 years on trial.

He said some of the inmates were suffering from various diseases, including tuberculosis and other communicable diseases.

Those that were present at the event are Justice Akaahs of the Supreme Court, Revd. Matthew Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto, Mr Olasupo Sasore, SAN, former Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice.