Hungry man jailed for yam theft released after NGO intervention

A 25-year-old man, Sunday Victor, who was sentenced to six months of imprisonment for stealing some tubers of yam, has regained freedom after a non-governmental organisation, Anchor Heritage Initiative, paid his fine.

Victor was arrested by the police in July 2024 for stealing the tubers of yam at a farm where he was working in Ijebu-Ijesa.

The police in the state dragged him before a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ilesa, and he was jailed for six months with some amount as an option of fine for the theft.

The farmer, who had informed the court that hunger led him to steal the yam, was not able to raise the fine, hence his confinement at Ilesa Medium Correctional Centre to serve his jail term.

Meanwhile, there was respite for the convict after Anchor Heritage Initiative got wind of his incarceration.

The organisation paid the fines and got him released from custody on Monday after spending over two months.

Victor, who was filled with happiness, profusely thanked the NGO for coming to his rescue, assuring that he would never return to crime.

“I thank Anchor Heritage Initiative for paying my fine and releasing me from prison. I pray God to continue to strengthen the organization. Like I confessed before the court, I did what I did because of hunger. But I have learned my lessons now. I will never go back to crime. I prefer to beg or even sell pure water to survive rather than steal,” Victor said upon his freedom.

Speaking on behalf of the in-charge of the correctional centre, an official from the Welfare Section, Josephine Olelua, commended the NGO for always giving a new lease of life to inmates and charged other organisations to emulate Anchor Heritage Initiative.

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However, findings by The Guardian showed that the imprisonment of Victor showed the need for the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws and the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, which provide power for courts to impose non-custodial sentences on convicts, to be strengthened.

Stakeholders believe that imposing alternatives to prison sentences on offenders would not only assist in decongesting correctional centres, but it would also make the government spend less of taxpayers’ money on feeding inmates of custodial centres.