PRAWA, others move to decriminalise poverty

The Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), a non-governmental organisation aimed at promoting security, justice and development in Africa, has concluded plans with other organizations and the African Union (AU) to campaign for the decriminalization of poverty. The move took place at the 63rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights […]

The Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), a non-governmental organisation aimed at promoting security, justice and development in Africa, has concluded plans with other organizations and the African Union (AU) to campaign for the decriminalization of poverty.

The move took place at the 63rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights going on in Banjul, The Gambia.

The AU and PRAWA, according to Barr. Ogechi Ogu, are blazing the trail in the campaign in Nigeria, adding that petty offences such as hawking should be off our statute books.

Ogechi said further that Nigeria should activate the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 on the use of alternative punishment to imprisonment.

For example, in Lagos State, it was gathered that significant number of awaiting trial inmates in Lagos prisons are arrested by various Lagos State Government task forces which include War Against Indiscipline (WAI); Task Force on Environmental Sanitation and other sundry law enforcement teams including the Nigeria Police Force.

It is against this background that Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Barr Giwa Amu, lambasted various task forces by the Lagos State Government for carrying out illegal arrests especially of minors for frivolous offences, and charging them to court, which oftentimes, leads to remanding them in prison custody. According to him, cases of arrest of this nature exacerbate prison congestion.

The Lagos State Comptroller of Prisons, CP Tunde Ladipo, once lamented the activities of the taskforce saying that in a single day, they could dump 300 inmates arrested for various environmental offences such as hawking. This is against the fact that the capacity of Ikoyi prisons is 800 but presently has 2,900 inmates.