The Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) has disclosed that nearly 65% of inmates in facilities nationwide are awaiting trial, indicating a critical issue of overcrowding within Nigeria's correctional institutions.
Controller-General Sylvester Nwakuche presented this information on Wednesday while discussing the NCoS’s 2025 budget outcomes and advocating for the 2026 budget estimates before the House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions in Abuja.
As of February 9, the total number of inmates was reported at 80,812, with 51,955, or 64%, being individuals yet to stand trial, while 24,913 are convicted inmates. Additionally, there are 3,850 inmates categorized under other forms of detention.
The prevalence of inmates awaiting trial has long been a point of concern within Nigeria's judicial framework.
Nwakuche emphasized the importance of these statistics during the Committee's session, highlighting ongoing issues in the criminal justice system that lead to prolonged waiting periods for trials.
For years, stakeholders have attributed this problem to various factors, including delays in investigations and court proceedings, frequent adjournments, and insufficient legal representation for underprivileged defendants.
Such circumstances have exacerbated overcrowding in custodial facilities, which are functioning well beyond their intended capacities.
Mr. Nwakuche described the NCoS as a vital element of Nigeria's justice system, tasked with the secure housing, rehabilitation, and societal reintegration of incarcerated individuals, along with implementing alternatives to traditional custody.
He pointed out that the Service is mandated to ensure proper nutrition for inmates, in compliance with the United Nations Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Offenders.
Regarding the performance of the 2025 budget, the Controller-General stated that ₦184.63 billion had been allocated for personnel, operational, and capital expenditures.
From the ₦124.31 billion designated for personnel expenses, ₦112.68 billion, accounting for 90.6%, was fully disbursed for salaries, pensions, and health coverage under the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Operational expenses reached 73.7% execution, with the final release made in December 2025. Out of the disbursed funds, ₦27.28 billion (around 71.7%) was allocated for feeding inmates, leaving an outstanding liability of ₦10.75 billion for food rations.
Furthermore, ₦6.49 billion was spent on various operational costs, such as staff training, transportation for court requirements, utilities, security, and facility maintenance.
Capital expenditure showed the least performance, with only ₦3.22 billion utilized out of the ₦14.50 billion earmarked for capital projects, leaving ₦11.27 billion unallocated.
Nwakuche emphasized the critical need for capital funding to support the construction and rehabilitation of correctional facilities, purchase operational vehicles, procure security tools, and deploy technology for capturing inmate biometrics while also boosting agricultural initiatives within prison farms.
While the NCoS isn't designed for revenue generation, it managed to generate ₦84.65 million in internal revenue for the year 2025.
As of now, the agency has 33,024 personnel, comprising uniformed officers, health professionals, and civilian staff positioned across various operations, including headquarters, regional commands, and correctional facilities.
Looking ahead, the NCoS has proposed a budget of ₦198.85 billion for the 2026 fiscal year, seeking additional resources to tackle urgent operational challenges and infrastructure deficits.
The proposal allocates ₦138.30 billion for personnel expenses, expected to sustain a workforce of 37,541 across four salary structures.
Another ₦50.40 billion is planned for operational costs, which includes provisions for feeding an anticipated inmate population of 91,100 at a daily rate of ₦1,125 per inmate.
In addition to the main budget proposal, Mr. Nwakuche is requesting legislative approval for an extra ₦90.38 billion to enhance capital investments, consequently raising the total capital allocation to approximately ₦100.50 billion to rectify historical infrastructure issues.
He also seeks ₦37.99 billion to expand non-custodial practices throughout the 774 local governments, along with settling outstanding debts, including ₦30.38 billion in promotion arrears from 2019 to 2024 and ₦25.16 billion owed to local contractors for services completed between 2023 and 2025.
The Controller-General reassured the committee of the Service's dedication to maintaining secure custodial environments, along with effective rehabilitation programs, while expressing gratitude for the committee's oversight efforts.
Earlier in the proceedings, Committee Chairman Chinedu Ogah (APC, Ebonyi) referred to the Nigeria Correctional Service as pivotal to national security but criticized its budget allocation as inadequate relative to its responsibilities.
Ogah noted that many correctional facilities are over a century old and have deteriorated significantly, leading to recurrent security alerts and operational pressures.
"Our primary duty today is to defend the 2026 budget as proposed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu," he affirmed, expressing the committee's intention to rigorously evaluate both the NCoS’s performance in 2025 and its financial requisites for 2026.
He called upon President Tinubu to endorse the Correctional Service Trust Fund Bill recently passed by the National Assembly, emphasizing the bill's potential to enhance state capabilities to develop correctional facilities and lessen the strain on federal centers.
Improvements in funding and decentralized resources, he claimed, would facilitate vocational training, agricultural initiatives, and rehabilitation programs, evolving custodial facilities into genuine reform establishments.
Mr. Ogah also mentioned ongoing efforts to improve educational opportunities within correctional centers, revealing that around 10 study centers affiliated with the National Open University of Nigeria have been established within custodial institutions across the nation, including a center developed in collaboration with university officials at the Abakaliki Correctional Centre.
He highlighted that access to educational programs has allowed several inmates to graduate and reintegrate, urging corporate entities to direct their social responsibility activities toward correctional facilities to help minimize re- offending rates.
The committee intends to complete its evaluation of the 2025 fiscal outcomes before moving to finalize deliberations on the 2026 budget proposals.
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