On Thursday, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced that Nigeria would spend N22.4 billion on feeding prisoners in jails and prisons around the country.
Dr. Shuaib Belgore, the Permanent Secretary for the Interior Ministry, said as much during a two-day High Conference on Decongestion and Corrections Management in Abuja, the capital of the country.
According to Belgore, the fund has a budget in the 2023 Appropriations Act.
He claimed that the inmates in the detention facilities had been steadily increasing, with at least 80% of those currently awaiting trial.
He claims that there are 244 detention facilities across the country with 75,507 inmates, making 82 of them overcrowded.
He stated that there are 1,686 female inmates and 73,821 male inmates overall.
Out of the 75,507 inmates, 52,436 are awaiting trial while 23,071 are convicted persons, with 3,322 as condemned inmates on death row.
