The Federal Government has granted amnesty to 217 inmates of Correctional Centres in Adamawa State, to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Umar Audu, the State Controller, Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Thursday in Yola.
Audu said that the gesture was designed to de-congest Correctional facilities to prevent the spread of the pandemic in the state.
“The Federal Government has approved the amnesty for the release of 217 inmates from various Correctional Centres in Adamawa State.
“Some 46 of the inmates were granted amnesty by the State Government as part of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.
“The gesture is the first of its kind in the history of the NCoS in the state,” he said.
Audu said that the inmates would be released as soon as the Service and Attorney General of the state finalised the process of their release.
He noted that the Service followed intensive screening processes for those to be release saying: “Beneficiaries of the amnesty were selected based on their good conduct and in consideration of the fact that they have few months to be discharged from custodial centres” he said.
The Controller added that the 18 Correctional centres in the state were provided with sanitation and hygiene materials.
Meanwhile, the State office of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency ( NDLEA) has released eight drugs suspects on bail.
Mr Mohammed Idris, the NDLEA Commander in the state, said the development was a sequel to directives from its National Headquarters as part of measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“All the suspects released on bail were under our custody, it is aim to reduce congestion pending when the court would call for their case ” Idris said.
He said that precautionary measures were put in place to ensure safety of the staff and those still under custody.