Prison congestion: Ganduje frees 3,717 inmates in six years

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has granted pardon to 3,717 inmates from 2015 to 2021, as part of efforts to decongest the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) facilities in the state.

This was revealed in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Abba Anwar.

Anwar noted that the move was in response to President Muhammadu Buhari’s appeal to state governors to help in decongesting Correctional Centres in the country.

According to the statement, the governor made the disclosure when he received members of the Presidential Committee on Correctional Centres Reform and Decongestion under the chairmanship of Justice Ishaq Bello, at his office last Thursday.

“President Muhammadu Buhari thought it right when he called for the decongestion of our Correctional Centres, looking at the happenings in those Centres. That, we should respect life and we should have hope in our inmates,” he stated.

He disclosed that the state adopted two major strategies to respond to the call by the president.

“We put in place a Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, under which we release inmates two times in a year; all during Sallah festivities – Sallah-El-Fitr and Sallah-El-Kabir. So far, we have released 3,717 inmates from 2015 to date.

“We paid for them fees they were not able to pay that landed them in those Centres. We also gave them transport money after they regained freedom. We recruit some of them into the state civil service.