By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The acting Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Mr Sylvester Nwakuche yesterday said 3,688 prisoners are currently on death row in various correctional centres across the country.
He said the number rose from 3,590 in September 2024 to 3,688 in March 2025.
He said the figure represented a 2.73 percent increase because an additional 98 prisoners joined the existing ones on death row within six months.
Therefore, the NCoS sought strategic collaboration with the Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to speed up the wheel of justice in the country.
Nwakuche revealed the figure yesterday while the Senate Committee on Interior, chaired by Senator Adams Oshiomhole, was screening him for the position of substantive controller-general.
He was accompanied to the screening exercise by his Principal Staff Officer, Mr. Godwin Okosun; Deputy Controller of Corrections of NCoS, Mr. Babatunde Ogundare; Acting Controller-General of NCoS, Mr. Sylvester Nwakuche; and Assistant Controller General of NCoS, Mr. Ahmed Adagiri, among others.
He said the significant challenge facing the correctional service in the country was the issue of prisoners awaiting execution.
The acting comptroller-general said: “Inmates on death row are now 3688 from 3,590 in September 2024. State governors are part of our challenges.
“They refuse to execute inmates on death row; neither do they commute their death sentence to life imprisonment.
“If they commute death sentences to life imprisonment, it is easier for us to distribute them to rural correctional facilities, which are not as congested as those in urban correctional facilities.
“This is because the issue of congestion is a major urban phenomenon. Our correctional facilities in urban centres are more congested than those in rural areas. If we commute them to life sentencing, we can distribute them equitably,” the acting comptroller-general.
The acting comptroller-general pledged to collaborate more strategically with other security agencies to ensure awaiting trial issues are permanently resolved so the prison can be decongested.
He further emphasised collaboration and synergy, specifically with the Nigeria Police, EFCC, DSS, and ICPC, to decisively address the challenge of awaiting trials in all correctional facilities nationwide.
“This is very important for any establishment to forge ahead. An establishment like correctional centres cannot do anything without collaboration. We are the recipient of the products of all the prosecuting agencies,” Nwakuche said.
According to him, the Nigeria Police, EFCC, DSS, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, and ICPC will bring all these products to our doorpost.
He said they expect to turn around, push them into society, and be law-abiding citizens. If we must meet this expectation, we need to collaborate more meaningfully.
He lamented that the justice system’s dispensation is “very slow.” When I met with the Inspector-General of Police, I said some of your inmates are in our facilities. They have stayed up to five or six years. Some of them do not need to be in our facilities any longer.
“If they have been sentenced, some will not spend up to two to three years in prison. But they have stayed in our facilities for six years. For me, such persons should be discharged and acquitted. That is one area in which we must collaborate to develop our facilities.
“I also met the Director-General of DSS on the need for collaboration. I met the Attorney-General of the Federation for the same reason. Some of the inmates are waiting for the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution.
“If we do not reach out to these agencies, our people will continue to be in prisons unnecessarily.”
Senator Adams Oshiomhole, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, said the Committee would submit its report based on the performance of the acting Controller-General of the NCoS.
