The recent disclosure by the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to the effect that 93 per cent of inmates in Nigeria’s custodial facilities are being held for state offences, while between 30 and 50 per cent of them may be serving time for offences that do not warrant imprisonment, is not only mind-boggling but also exposes the loopholes in the administration of criminal justice in the country.

The fact that only seven per cent of the inmates are facing federal offences illustrates the magnitude of the lopsidedness and shrewdness in the dispensation of justice between the national and sub-national governments. The figures also expose the need for a fundamental rethink of the way Nigeria and other African countries classify offenders and deploy imprisonment as a response to crime.

Tunji-Ojo made the disclosure during the Regional Conference on the Classification of Prisoners and the Use of Technology in Prisons in Africa on July 22, 2026, in Abuja, which was jointly organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the African Correctional Services Association (ACSA).

“93% of our inmates in Nigeria are state offenders. Only 7% are federal offenders. And of this 93%, I want to tell you before this president came on board, a lot of them were for minor offences that had no need for incarceration,” the minister said.

He disclosed that the federal government, upon his assumption of office, undertook an audit of inmates incarcerated over minor fines and compensation orders, a process that resulted in the release of more than 4,000 inmates.

“When I became minister, I called my permanent secretary, I called the controller general of the Correctional Service, and I said, listen, give me the data, the record of people who are in correctional centres for fines and compensation of less than 500,000 or something. And guess what? Over 4,000 people,” he said.

According to the minister, the continued detention of such inmates was economically irrational, as the government spent far more feeding and maintaining them than the value of the fines or compensation involved.

“I said, what is the sense in this? Because I feed them in a year with more than 10 times the fine. So, how is the government benefiting?” he asked.

Tunji-Ojo said the government subsequently cleared the affected cases, resulting in the decongestion of correctional facilities by five per cent in a single day.

“And we were able to clear that, and in one day, we decongested our correctional centre by 5% in one day. In one day,” he said.

The minister noted that the experience raised a broader question about the rationale behind overcrowding in correctional facilities, insisting that the number of inmates alone should not be the only measure of the crisis.

The disclosure comes against the background of Nigeria’s long-running prison congestion crisis. Correctional facilities across the country have for years struggled with overcrowding, placing enormous pressure on feeding, healthcare, security, rehabilitation, and other essential services.

A significant proportion of the inmate population comprises persons awaiting trial. In many cases, detainees spend prolonged periods in custody before their cases are concluded, with some eventually discharged for lack of evidence or after spending periods in detention that exceed the sentences they might have received if convicted.

The situation has fuelled concerns over access to justice, the presumption of innocence, and the impact of poverty on the criminal justice system, particularly where suspects are unable to meet bail conditions or secure effective legal representation.

The minister’s position suggests that the problem cannot be solved simply by constructing more prisons. Rather, it requires a more rigorous classification of inmates, faster trials, and greater use of non-custodial measures for minor and non-violent offences.

Blueprint.ng commends the federal government’s giant strides on correctional centres’ reform, which has rekindled a renewed hope in the penal system among defenceless and vulnerable Nigerians, guaranteeing their right to access to justice.

UNODC and ACSA, organisers of the conference, also deserve kudos for provided a platform for African correctional authorities and international partners to examine how prisoner classification and technology could be deployed to improve prison management, enhance security, and promote rehabilitation.

The reduction of recidivism across the country through education, skills acquisition, and rehabilitation within correctional facilities across the country is quite significant. The steep fall in the number of inmates returning to crime from about 13,000 cases annually in 2023 to approximately 1,000 last year is no mean achievement.

The minister buttressed this fact when he said 62 inmates were currently pursuing postgraduate studies, while 261 were enrolled in undergraduate programmes. Another 1,125 inmates were participating in formal education. He disclosed that 18 National Open University of Nigeria centres had been established within correctional facilities, while 9,582 inmates were enrolled in vocational and non-formal rehabilitation programmes. The figures reflected a deliberate shift in the philosophy of corrections from mere confinement to rehabilitation and reintegration.

It is noteworthy that the federal government’s modernisation of its correctional system through reforms anchored on the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 is also recording successes in the elimination of the, hitherto, incessant jail-breaks in the country. Thus, no jail-break or attack on a correctional facility has been recorded in the last three years.

This newspaper urges the federal government not to rest on its oars towards ensuring a holistic reform of the correctional system. A situation where states account for 93 per cent of inmates against the federal government’s paltry seven per cent is as undesirable as it is deplorable. There is, therefore, the urgent need for a review of the penal system towards the harmonisation and synchronisation of states and federal laws.