The Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, has directed the Chief Registrar of the State judiciary to serve a query on a Magistrate in Minna for sending adults to the juvenile facility instead of the National Correctional Centre (NCC).
The Magistrate, according to reports, was said to have sent convicts who are between 23 years and above to the Remand Home in Minna instead of NCC facilities meant for adults.
Justice Abdulmalik said: “The FIR of the accused person stated that he is 23 years old. This is evidence before you (Magistrate) to decide his age and send him to the NCC as the appropriate place. It is negligence on your part and you are to be queried for it”.
Justice Abdulmaliki also expressed concerns that about three other adults have been kept at the Juvenile facility even when they were ordered to be sent to the Correctional facility.
The Chief Judge, who was also on a working visit to some NCC facilities, had on Thursday approved the released nine inmates from the Suleja facility, while some other inmates were granted bail.
While expressing commitment towards ensuring that the judiciary under her watch will witness speedy decongestion of NCC in the State, Justice Abdulmalik promised that her visit would be more regular, to ensure a more conducive atmosphere for the inmates.
In reaction, the management of Suleja Correctional Centre, according to one of the officials, was built since the year, 2014 with the capacity of accommodate about 250 inmates but at the moment has 556 inmates with 368 of them awaiting trials.
While also reviewing the cases of the number of awaiting trial inmates, our Daily Independent learnt that the Chief Judge referred some cases for summarily trial and bail of the accused persons involved.
