Anambra Govt. Soon To Domesticate Correctional Service Bill – Prof Ifemeje
By Tony Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State Government will soon domesticate the Correctional Service Bill.
The State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Sylvia Chika Ifemeje, disclosed this when the State Controller of Correctional Services, Joseph Usifo, paid her a courtesy visit in her Office at Jerome Udoji Secretariat Complex, on Wednesday, 1st November, 2023.
Recall that former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Nigerian Correctional Services Bill into law in 2019. The Act repealed the Prison Act, Cap P29, Laws of the Federation, 2004 .
Inter alia, the Act aimed at addressing issues that were not covered under the repealed Act and improve on prison administration.
Prof Ifemeje, pledged the state government’s the unalloyed support and assistance to the correctional services, especially in the area of expansion of the facilities.
Ifemeje hinted that the state government had installed solar energy in all the correctional centres in the state, and had also done extensive repairs at the Ekwulobia Correctional Centre.
The Commissioner added that the correctional service bill would soon be domesticated in the state, and thanked the Controller and his team for the visit.
She said, “We share a common passion with the new Anambra State Controller of Correctional Services, Usifo, E.Joseph.
Our common passion is that of reforming those who are convicted and incarcerated at the correctional centers.”
Speaking earlier, the new Controller, Joseph Usifo, said the purpose for the visit was to familiarize himself with his working environment and to seek ways of adding value to the services of the Nigerian Correctional Services.
He expressed readiness to collaborate with the Justice Commissioner to achieve desired results in the justice delivery sector.
Usifo also expressed interest in the immediate implementation of virtual hearing facilities in criminal cases, which government had fully deployed in four Correctional Centres in the state.
He decried the plight of inmates and prayed the Attorney-General to do to something concerning the teeming population of youths who were in detention because of nonpayment of fines and sundry reasons.
The Controller noted, “Some may not have committed any crimes while some may have actually committed crimes.
Both the Attorney-General and I the Controller agreed on the need to transform the inmates who were mostly adolescents into better citizens for their own good and society at large.
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