What is your mission in Benin City?
We visited Oko Prison in order to review what has been happening in particular with regards to the prison facilities, security of the prisons, the training facilities that are there for inmates because the Senate is concerned about a number of issues. The Senate is concerned about the number of people who are awaiting trials; many people are in prison who ought not to be there, in fact yesterday, one of the most glaring and distressing report we had from the Comptroller of Prison was the case of four detainees who had been kept there since 1997 and they are said to be kept there on the order of the military administrator and we found it strange that there is this class of people who are detained in prison and that is an area of concern for the Senate. Secondly, we are concerned about the security situation of our prisons; we had a number of prison breaks and we wanted to ensure that staff and inmate who are complying with the rules and regulations are not harmed by people who have mischievous design; so we are interested in what we can do to strengthen the security in the prisons and additionally we want to see that training facilities are available for the inmates such that when they leave prisons, they will be better citizens, well trained and we are very happy at what we saw. We saw a number of tailors and the women confirmed to us that they have been taught skills, and we have people who have been trained as electricians, plumbers and we think that this should be the case and we want to have more of that. The authorities also complained to us about shortage of manpower even though it’s increasing since the recent jail breaks and we believe we will support any measure that will improve the manpower and security level in Nigerian Prisons.
You have spoken about prison reforms, but if you look critically at the number of inmates there, you observed that there were perhaps more inmates in the 608 Medium capacity facilities, what is the Senate doing about decongesting the prisons.
If you listen to what I said about the awaiting trial detainees, like you rightly said, the prison capacity ought to be 608 Beds but they have 1005 detainees as at yesterday when we visited and 932 of these are awaiting trial and so if the Judicial process is improved, yesterday one of the areas the Controller mentioned was that the Directors of Public Prosecution (DPP) in different states, it takes a long time before the investigations are finished and these people are taking to court, the trial takes place and concluded. So in most Urban Prisons, you find that the numbers of awaiting trial detainees are more than the numbers convicted. In fact Nigerian prisons population is about 49,000 and out of these, about 36,000 are awaiting trial detainees. The Senate in the last four months has considered prisons reform; we have considered many motions to deal with expediting the processes such that the trials period will be enhanced; we have spoken about the need for the police to finish their investigations quickly, the Directors of Public Prosecution and Ministry of Justices to review their files and advice one way or the other promptly; the Chief Justices of the state should undertake periodic visit to the prisons so that they can review some cases on the spot because there are people who ordinarily ought not to be in prison.
Is the Senate Committee on Internal Affairs worried about the rising security problem in the country; Boko Harram, kidnappings, etc?
The Senate has been in the forefront of increased funding to the security agencies because we recognised that our security agencies have been doing a great job but the challenges is multi-faceted and the most obvious one which the Senate has paid attention to is to increase funding and increase interactions with the security agencies so that from time to time, we are appreciative of those areas that need to be enhanced. Last year, we passed the Anti-terrorism Act, which we also believe will strengthen it and with other Acts that we believe will enhance the state of readiness so that the security services are not limited by legalism so that they move faster and arrest crime wherever it is happening, whether it is Kidnappings in the East, Boko Haram in the North or it is people threatening to break away or whatever.
What is your take on the proposed introduction of N5, 000 note by the CBN?
I am not speaking on behalf of the committee; I am speaking as a Senator and a Nigerian. I am one of those who are critical of the reasoning behind the introduction of the N5, 000 notes by the CBN. Because in about 8 years ago, the Central Bank introduced new currency denominations and we thought that was a well thought out policy, so to quickly come in a very short period and say we are replacing these with coins, we think it reflects hasty reasoning on behalf of the Central Bank. Because if they had thought it out, they would have convinced us then whether we needed new coins or new currency because these things are expensive to print, and therefore the nation is bearing a huge burden and cost. Second issue is that over a decade there has been little use of coins in Nigeria and I am sure that none of you here today has seen coins in the last five years or has any in your pocket. Therefore if we don’t have the culture and it has not been explained to us why the nation should revert to currency for a significant number of denominations knowing that in our places where currencies are used heavily, we don’t see coins being used. The N5, 000 naira note is equally strange because the Central Bank has come out with policies that all Nigerians are commending them for; that is cashless society and we know that more Nigerians are using debit cards and points of sale are increasing everywhere, so I can’t see the rationale for a higher denomination currency which might affect the value of the currency.
How would you react to the agitation for the creation of state police?
As a member of the Constitution Review Committee, my view is simply personal because I am not supposed to be partisan on these issues. There have been pros and cons on these arguments and people are saying even if it is desirable, it doesn’t look it is time because of the various security challenges we are facing. Even though some of the arguments are cogent, the time is wrong.
