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Government to review prison law

    ABIDJAN

    The Nigerian government plans to review the country’s prison law to place more emphasis on reforming inmates and giving them skills to make them more useful citizens on their release, ‘The Guardian’ Lagos daily on Thursday reported Minister of Internal Affairs Sunday Afolabi as saying.

    “Better days are ahead for prison inmates in Nigeria, as the federal government is planning to amend the punitive Prison Act which it inherited from our colonial masters to a humane act,” he was quoted as saying.

    The paper reported that President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government had spent 2.4 billion naira (US $21 million) under the first phase of a refurbishment programme aimed at improving prison facilities and the welfare of inmates. Nigeria has 147 prisons and others detention centres, with an estimated population of 43,000 inmates.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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