Abuja, May 13, 2024 – The House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions is considering a legislation for the establishment of a trust fund to manage correctional services in the country.
Chinedu Ogah, the Committee Chairman, disclosed this during in Abuja on Tuesday a parley with journalists at the National Assembly.
He said that the trust fund would mandate deductions from local, state, and federal governments for this purpose.
Ogah urged state governors to be more responsible by establishing correctional facilities in their states in the bid to decongest correctional centres.
He said the responsibility of establishing correctional centres had been moved to the concurrent list.
“I wrote to all the governors of the 36 states, including the Attorney General of the Federation, outlining this line of the constitution that is not being implemented by the states.
“But most of these governors have neglected this part of the law. They have defaulted on obeying the law of the land, the amended 1999 Constitution. And this Act is the 2019 Act.
“This is a breach of the constitution. And some NGOs have approached me about taking most of them to court for breaching this constitution. But we will continue to appeal to them to implement what the constitution says.” (GBN)
