The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has reported a 2.73% increase in the number of prisoners on death row across the country, rising from 3,590 in September 2024 to 3,688 in March 2025.
This represents an additional 98 inmates on death row within six months.
Mr. Sylvester Nwakuche, the Acting Controller-General of NCoS, attributed the challenge of managing the rising number of prisoners on death row to state governors.
“State governors are part of our challenges. They refuse to execute inmates on death row; neither do they commute their death sentence to life imprisonment,” Nwakuche said.
Nwakuche spoke on Wednesday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Interior chaired by Sen. Adams Oshiomhole for screening and confirmation as the substantive Controller-General.
Nwakuche explained the need for commuting death sentences to life imprisonment, which would enable the correctional service to distribute prisoners more equitably across facilities.
“If we commute them to life sentencing, we will be able to distribute them to rural correctional facilities, which are not as congested as those in urban correctional facilities,” he said.
The NCoS boss also called for collaboration with security agencies to address the challenge of awaiting trials in correctional facilities nationwide.
“We need to collaborate more meaningfully. 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,” Nwakuche said.
Sen. Adams Oshiomhole, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, assured that the panel would submit its report based on Nwakuche’s performance at the screening.
The rising number of prisoners on death row highlights the need for effective collaboration between the correctional service, state governors, and security agencies to address the challenges facing the Nigerian correctional system.
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