The Federal Executive Council, FEC, yesterday approved a memo for the procurement of 320 operational vehicles for the Nigeria Prisons Service.
The purchase will cost the nation N3.5 billion.
Interior Minister, Abdulrahama Dambazau, made the disclosure to State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He explained that the new vehicles would strengthen the criminal justice system and de-congest the prisons, which he said was overpopulated.
Dambazau assured that the procurement would be contracted to local manufacturers, assemblies and vendors.
He said this was in line with government’s policy to ensure that most procurement is done locally to provide opportunity for job creation and similar benefits.
The minister put the current prisoner population at 65,000, about 70 percent of who he said are awaiting trial due to lack of logistics because there are 5,022 courts, adding that on daily basis, prisoners have to be transported to attend to their cases.
Meanwhile, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Iyayi Laminkara, had directed the Inspector-General of Police, Idris Kpotun, to produce the Federal Comptroller of Prisons and the Deputy Comptroller in charge of Port Harcourt Prisons over their failure to produce a former Chairman of Asari-Toru local government area, Ojukaye Flag Amachree.
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