Prisoners on death row rise as governors block execution – Prisons boss laments

•Prisoners

The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) yesterday revealed that the num­ber of prisoners on death row had risen from 3,590 in September 2024 to 3,688 in March 2025, representing a 2.73 percent increase or 98 prisoners within six months, saying that state governors have refused to execute in­mates on the death row.

The NCoS also sought strategic collaboration with the Nigeria Police, De­partment of State Services (DSS); Economic and Finan­cial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission (ICPC) to speed up the wheel of jus­tice in the country, reports Daily Independent.

The Acting Control­ler-General of NCoS, Mr. Syl­vester Nwakuche, revealed the figure while the Sen­ate Committee on Interior chaired by Senator Adams Oshiomhole was screening him for the position of sub­stantive controller-general.

Nwakuche was accompa­nied by his Principal Staff Officer, Mr. Godwin Okosun; Deputy Controller of Cor­rections of NCoS, Mr. Baba­tunde Ogundare; Acting Controller-General of NCoS, Mr. Sylvester Nwakuche; As­sistant Controller General of NCoS, Mr. Ahmed Adagiri, among others, to the screen­ing exercise.

Responding to questions at the screening with facts and figures, Nwakuche dis­closed that no fewer than 3688 inmates are currently on death row in the country compared to 3,590 recorded in September 2024.

He explained the major challenges facing the correc­tional service in the country, revealing that the majority of inmates “are currently awaiting trials. That is our major headache we are try­ing to address on a daily basis.”

The acting comptrol­ler-general said: “Inmates on death row are now 3688 from 3,590 in September 2024. State governors are part of our challenges. They refuse to execute inmates on the death row; neither do they commute their death sen­tence to life imprisonment.

“If they commute death sentences to life imprison­ment, it is easier for us to distribute them to rural cor­rectional facilities which are not as congested as those in urban correctional facilities.

“This is because the issue of congestion is a major ur­ban phenomenon. Our cor­rectional facilities in urban centres are more congested than those in rural areas. If we commute them to life sentencing, we will be able to distribute them equitably,” the acting comptroller-gen­eral.

The acting comptrol­ler-general pledged to col­laborate with other security agencies more strategically to ensure that the issues of awaiting trials are perma­nently resolved so that the prison can be decongested.

He further emphasised collaboration and synergy specifically with the Nige­ria Police, EFCC, DSS and ICPC, among others, to deci­sively address the challenge of awaiting trials in all the correctional facilities na­tionwide.

“This is very import­ant for any establishment to forge ahead. An estab­lishment like correctional centres cannot do anything without collaboration. We are the one at the recipient of the products of all the prosecuting agencies,” the acting comptroller-general.

According to him, “The Nigeria Police, EFCC, DSS, Nigeria Customs Service, Ni­geria Immigration Service and ICPC will bring all these products to our doorpost. They expect to turn around and push them into society and be law-abiding citizens. If we must meet this expecta­tion, we need to collaborate more meaningfully.”

He lamented that the dis­pensation of justice system “is very slow. When I met with the Inspector-General of Police, I said some of your inmates are in our facilities. They have stayed up to five or six years. Some of them are not needed to be in our facilities any longer.

“If they have been sen­tenced, some of them will not spend up to two to three years in prisons. But they have stayed in our facili­ties for six years. For me, such persons should be discharged and acquitted. That is one area we must collaborate to decongest our facilities.

“I also met the Direc­tor-General of DSS on the need for collaboration. I met the Attorney-General of the Federation for the same rea­son. Some of the inmates are waiting for the advice of the Director of Public Prosecu­tion. If we do not reach out to these agencies, our people will continue to be in prisons unnecessarily.”

In his remarks, Chair­man, Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Adams Os­hiomhole, said the commit­tee would submit its report based on the performance of the Acting Controller-Gen­eral of the Nigerian Correc­tional Service (NCoS).