The Centre for Gender Economics in Africa (CGE Africa) has said unless Nigeria prioritises gender-responsive budgeting, improving the basic needs of female inmates and their children across custodial centres in the country may remain a mirage.
According to the Centre, the budget of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) needs to be aligned to ensure proper implementation and address issues like healthcare, mental health and separation of male and female inmates.
The Executive-Director of CGE, Uchenna Idoko, made this call in Abuja during a one-day workshop on gender-responsive budgeting for NCoS officers organised by CGE and funded by MacArthur foundation.
She said: “A provision has been made in a new Act, the Act of 2019 that makes provisions for responding to issues of the gender gap in Correctional Service Centres.
“The only way to ensure that the policies are implemented is to put funding behind the promises or the Act. You have to be sure that the budget is responsive to that Act. We need to begin to create awareness that the style of budgeting needs to change for these to be achieved.
“So, we are asking the government to be responsive, to be responsible and put money behind the promises because we are seeing the policies as the promises from the government so that that dream of the Act of 2019 will come to fruition.”
In his remarks, the facilitator at the event, an economist and public policy analyst, Dr. Terfa Abraham, highlighted the importance of adequate budgetary allocation for the NCoS to enable it fulfill its rehabilitation and reintegration mandate, and the need for gender inclusiveness in the budgeting process.
Abraham said: “It’s important to ensure that budgeting for all government agencies, especially the Correctional Services is gender inclusive. The Establishment Act provides that female and male shall separate prisons; children shall separate prisons. But when the budget for the Correctional Services is not reflecting this kind of project, it means that what the Act says they should do is not what they can actually do.”
Also, the Deputy Controller in-charge of Gender Unit at NCoS, Hadiza Aminu, welcomed the training and advocacy support from CGE Africa to help activate the gender policy they have been trying to implement.
She said: “Today, I’m happy to be attending this training because of this gender policy that we have been trying to get for a while. Today, this group has given us the assurance that they are going to help us in the advocacy.
“We have been looking for a way to get this gender policy done; other security agents have gotten theirs but we are yet to activate our policy. I believe with this promise we will achieve it.”
