The Executive Director of Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), Dr. Uju Agomoh, has praised some members of the National Assembly for their role in enacting the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019.
Agomoh identified the Senator representing Lagos West, Mrs Senator Oluremi Tinubu; a former Kwara State Governor, Senator Moh’d Shaaba Lafiaji and Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Sen Babajide Omoworare as persons who worked for the law’s passage.
Others are: Senator Gershom Bassey, Hon Henry Nwawuba, Hon. Ochigiegor Igagba, Hon. Danburam Abubakar Nuhu and Hon. JohnBull Shekarau.
She praised them for their “invaluable contributions and untiring efforts to make sure that the Nigerian Correctional Service Bill was passed by both Chambers of the National Assembly, assented to and signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.”
She spoke at on the sidelines of a workshop on the contents of the Act held at Radison Blue Hotel in Lagos on Friday.
Agomoh said: “We give special acknowledgement to the Senators and members of the House of Representatives under the Eighth Assembly whose bills were harmonised to give birth to the Nigerian Correctional Service Bill (2019) which was recently assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.”
She noted, for instance, that Senator Lafiaji sponsored a Bill for Act to Repeal the Prisons Act Cap. P 29 Laws of the Federal of Nigeria, 2004 and Enact the Nigerian Prisons and Correctional Service, To Make Provisions for the Administration of Prisons in Nigeria; The Awaiting Trial Persons and for Related Purposes, 2019 (SB. 125).
She also noted that Senator Tinubu sponsored: A Bill for Act of Amend the Prisons Cap P. 29 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to provide for a Mother and Baby Unit for the Care of Female Prisoners who are Nursing Mothers and their and for Related Matters,2018 (SB. 191).
Agomoh also thanked President Buhari for signing the bill into law, adding that it is “a very progressive piece of legislation that will change the face of Nigeria prisons for the better.”
She, however, warned of the need “for effective implementation of the new law to achieve desired results it is important that all stakeholders work towards supporting and advocating effective implementation of the new law.
“There is need for training and sensitisation of all key stakeholders on the law so that they can better understand it and the rationale for each provision. This will also highlight their roles in facilitating effective implantation of the law.”
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