Henceforth, State governments are to provide feeding and accommodation to prison inmates in their States, says Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.
Speaking at a two-day conference on prisons decongestion and corrections management held in Abuja, Aregbesola said the Federal Government would no longer bear the burden as it was getting too heavy.
According to the Minister, with the amendment of the 1999 constitution, which has now placed the issue of correctional services on the concurrent list, states are empowered to establish their own Correctional Services and facilities.
Aregbesola said that States, which do not have correctional facilities, would have to pay the Federal government for the feeding and accommodation of their inmates.
The Federal Government says it spends over N22 billion to feed inmates across 244 correctional facilities in the country.
The Minister lamented that the responsibility is draining the Federal government’s revenue.
He also revealed that 4,067 inmates are in custody for being unable to pay fines of N1 million and below.
