Enugu State Governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, (middle) and the Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission(NHRC), Prof. Ben Angwe, (left) being received by Controller of Prison, Enugu State Command, Amaliri Ifeanyi, (2nd right) and his deputy, Felix Lawrence, during an inspection visit by top management officials of NHRC at Enugu Prisons, Wednesday.
He made this call during his visit to the Enugu Prisons Wednesday in the company of the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof Ben Angwe, the Senator representing Enugu North Senatorial District, Senator Chuka Utazi and other members of the commission.
The delegation from the Commission was in Enugu on an inspection tour of the facility to ascertain its condition and level of compliance with basic human rights.
Gov. Ugwuanyi noted that at the time the prison was built in 1915, the present location was then regarded as the outskirts of the city, adding that it has now become the city centre as a result of development and urbanization, thus making it unsafe and inconvenient for both the public and the prison officials.
The governor said that the visit was timely in view of the recent spate of jailbreaks across the country, noting that it would “help provide insights into the immediate and remote causes of these incidents and also provide answers as to how such occurrences can be prevented in future”.
He said it was expedient to decongest the prison given that it had gone far beyond its capacity, and lauded the officials of the Human Rights Commission on their goal to secure justice for inmates who have been on awaiting trial list longer than their offence would have attracted.
Earlier in his remarks, Prof. Angwe praised the governor’s humanitarian inclinations. “Some governors spend eight years without making a single visit to prison; but you have visited more than once,” he said.
He painted a grim picture of the situation at the prison, pointing out that there are reports of inmates being incarcerated for 10 to 15 years while awaiting trial. He also explained that there are inmates who were arrested for the offences committed by their relatives, while some died in prison without autopsy being conducted to ascertain the cause of their deaths.
He pleaded with the governor to help ease the problem of congestion by building additional blocks in the prison’s premises and thanked him for respecting the rights of citizens in the state.
