Moro restates commitment to prisons reform

MINISTER of Interior, Abba Moro, has restated the Federal Government's determination to initiate and promote reforms that would uplift the face of the nation's prisons in consonance withinternational standards.Moro, who spoke with journalists in Makurdi, Benue State at the weekend, revealed thatthe current reforms of the nation's prison system like other transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan'sadministration was already on course.While blaming the woes of the country's prisonson failure of successive administrations in the country, which he said did not summon the political will to implement the recommendations of various committees that were put in place, the minister distanced the current administration from infrastructural decay that has afflictedmost of the prisons across the country.He argued thatmost of theexisting prisons in the country today are theones that were constructed by the colonial masters and primarily designed to incarcerate their opponents.Moro, who reiterated President Jonathan's passion for prison reforms, said government had started making moves in conjunction with state governments, with a view to constructing new ones and relocating most of the prisons thatare located or scattered around the major cities of the country.'Most of the country's prisonsare located in the centres of our cities. For instance in Owerri,Imo State, the prison shares boundary withthe Government House. My ministry has initiated an understanding with governors of affected states. I went to inspect some prisons in Lagos with a view to relocating Ikoyi Prisons to Epe. Wehave had talks with the governors of Kano,Enugu, Akwa Ibom, among others, with the hope that we would relocate our prisons and build modern onesthat will conform with all standards of prison in the world,' Moro said.The minister intimated that most of the inmates in the nation's prisons today are also citizens of various states that are supposed to hold some level of responsibility. He enjoined state governors to contribute their quota by ensuring that the conditions, which prison inmates pass through, is their major area of concern.He revealed thatthe Prison Review Act is before the National Assembly for amendment, expressing the hopethat in a short while, the Prisons Act would be amended to conform to the dynamism of the time.
Click here to read full news..