NHRC teams up with Catholic knights to decongest Nigerian prisons, target minor offence detainees
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has formalized a partnership with the Knights of St. Mulumba and Papal Knights of Nigeria to tackle prison congestion by reviewing cases of persons detained for minor, bailable offences who cannot meet nominal bail conditions—some jailed for amounts as low as ₦5,000. The alliance, confirmed Monday in Abuja with NHRC's Fatimah Mohammed and KSM/Papal Knights lead Steve Adehi, will draft a Memorandum of Understanding for rollout across all 36 state NHRC offices.
Beyond facilitating releases, the collaboration aims to establish halfway homes, provide vocational training and reintegration support packages, and conduct human rights capacity-building for correctional officers aligned with Nigeria's constitution, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, and UN Mandela Rules. NHRC's Tony Ojukwu (SAN) noted this addresses decades of failed interventions, coming shortly after the ECOWAS Court ordered Nigeria to decongest facilities in May and following House of Representatives Committee calls for infrastructural overhaul and non-custodial measures in July and August 2025.
With awaiting-trial persons constituting over half of inmates in many congested centres per Nigeria Correctional Service data, will this joint statutory and faith-based approach finally deliver sustainable relief where past government-led efforts have repeatedly fallen short?