The Senate has mandated its committees on Judiciary and Interior to review the laws regulating the criminal justice system to find a lasting solution to the problem of prisons congestion.The Senates resolution followed a motion brought by Senator Mohammed Lafiagi from Kwara North on Tuesday seeking Senates intervention in the congestion in the nations prisons.There was a consensus that the constitution would need to be amended to remove the issue of prison management from the Exclusive Legislative List as it currently stands and move it to the concurrent list.Lafiagi, in his motion, said statics available at the Nigeria Prisons Service indicated that about 33,692 out of the 48,124 inmates of Nigerian prisons were awaiting trial men and women."More than half of these poor and voiceless individuals end up spending more years in the prison than they would have probably spent if they were properly sentenced."The various prison decongestion programmes of the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Nigeria Prison Service are well-intended and well-thought out programmes, however the ineffectiveness of these programmes are disturbing."The Senate however directed its committees on Judiciary and Interior to "evaluate the various measures taking so far by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Nigeria Prison Authorities towards decongesting our prison and recommend a coordinated approach to it."President of the Senate, David Mark, said the management of the Nigerian prison was on the exclusive list.He said, "If we want states to own and operate prisons, then we have to amend the constitution. We have set up a committee for that and I think they should take note."Mark added that there should be a review of the management of prisons in Nigeria so that the purpose of reforming the inmates would be achieved.Senators Ahmed Lawan, in his contribution, said there was an urgent need to upgrade the prisons system, particularly with the passage of the bill allowing Nigeria and other countries to swap prisoners."If we dont upgrade our prisons, there can serious uprising because those Nigerians who will be brought here from abroad to serve their prison sentences will be alarmed by the great difference between where they are coming from and what is obtained here," he said.Meanwhile the Senate considered the report of the Joint Committee on Police Affairs and Federal Character over the growing danger of night movement of commercial buses on the Nigerian highway.The Senate accepted the recommendation that night travels by commercial bus drivers should be sustained, arguing that travelling at night was not dangerous in itself, as the poor condition of the roads and other infrastructure constituted greater hazards.The Senate also called for the equipping of the Police and Federal Road Safety Commission to enable it to conduct patrols and rescue operations on the highways, even as it urged the Ministry of Works to provide and maintain lightings, road marks and signs on the high ways.
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