As part of the Correctional Center reformatory process, four thousand and sixty eight inmates of the Nigeria Correctional Service have regained their freedom.
At the flag off of the release of the inmates in Abuja, the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubumi Tunji-Ojo said the move was in a bid to decongest the Correctional centers nation wide.
The Minister explained that the released inmates were indigents who cannot afford to pay their fines as penalties for their crimes.
Dr Tunji-Ojo said about Five hundred and eighty five million naira was raised by corporate bodies as part of their corporate social responsibility and inmates whose fines did not exceed one million naira benefited from the gesture.
He however called on the released inmates to refrain from acts that will bring them back to confinement stressing that making Nigeria a great country devoid of crime was part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.
In an address, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa said the initiative would reduce over crowding which has become a perennial challenge in the service.
Mr Nababa said the service would continue to provide logistics to facilitate access to Justice by inmates as fast as possible.
Some of the inmates who regained their freedom commended the minister for the gesture and pledged never to go back to crime.
The inmates who were trained on various skills to enable them become productive in the society were also given a token to transport themselves to their various communities.