My name is Mary Ekoja, a 400 level clinician from
the University of Abuja Law Clinic. The NULAI/OSIWA Pre Trial Detention Project
was an educative and interesting one. Prior to the pretrial detainees project,
I had a mindset that all prisoners were guilty and that the society should be
wary of such people, however as a result of this project I got to know that as
at 11th June 2018, prisoners convicted were 22,981(32%) and those
prisoners awaiting trial were 49,406(68%) which is quite appalling because
there is a possibility that Nigerian prisons hold more innocent than the guilty
which is against the popular saying which states that it is better for 99
guilty people to be free than for 1 innocent man to be in prison.
The justice system in Nigeria is archaic and
underdeveloped. The participation in this project helped me to realize this
disheartening fact. During the advocacy visit to the legal aid council, it came
to my notice that in Kuje prison, the capacity designated for 550 inmates has
over 800 prisoners and over 600 of them are awaiting trial. Mr. Komolafe Segun,
the Director of Legal Aid Council, Gwagwalada branch spoke to us about evils he
experienced during his time as a private legal practitioner. He informed us
that most of the inmates do not have access to justice, those who do have an
opportunity to get trial dates have to endure no speedy trial, “JUSTICE DELAYED
IS JUSTICE DENIED.” What is even more appalling is the poor case management
system. The inmates know more about their trial dates than the prison officials
who have such carefree attitude to their duties.
The issues I observed were numerous but for the sake
of this report, I’ll mention but a few. The welfare of the inmates was a far
cry from what is expected of the Nigerian government. The poor feeding they
get, no medical attention, in all the inhumane treatment they receive once
experienced is life changing. I remember vividly when my team and I interviewed
an inmate. He had severe burns and during the course of the interview, a prison
official came to administer some medication to him. When he was asked if he had
been treated for the injuries sustained, he confided in us that it was the
first time he had received any treatment and he believes it a because we were
present. When interviewing another client, he told us they were only fed two
times a day and they the inmates took turns in cooking the meal, when we asked
why, he informed us it was because the cooks were hardly interested in cooking
and they did that to get at least enough to eat. The food was so unbalanced. I
witnessed an inmate being beaten for reasons with their batons for reasons
unknown. The environment in itself was discouraging, no space, the chairs we
used for the interviews were not even provided for by the Nigerian government,
they were donated by churches and free will donations. The federal government
have no scheme to take care of the environment not to take of the inmates. They have failed in protecting the right of
their citizens as contained in the laws such as UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS and ACJ ACT. The issues observed made me feel disappointed in the
federal government, I felt like this project should be undertaken every year
until this epidemic issue is resolved in our orison systems
The experience has shaped me in such a way that no
class teaching could ever do. I gained communication and interview skills
during the course of the project. I met learned people through the advocacy
visits who shared their respective experience on pretrial detainees. It made me
come to a conclusion that there’s still a lot to be done. This is a life time
experience that cannot go away and I know I can change the world one pretrial
detainee at a time.
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