The Executive Director and CEO of the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), Lucy James Abagi, has hailed the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, for championing non-custodial sentencing and discouraging prolonged adjournments.
Abagi stated this during a visit to the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre in Niger State on Thursday, where she participated in a bail delivery exercise.
She used the occasion to call for the establishment of mental health centres to help educate Nigerians and tackle the rising cases of gender-based violence, especially against women and minors.
“We need to set up, if necessary, mental centres for more citizens to be educated against these kinds of crimes,” she told LEADERSHIP Weekend.
“We also need to protect our women and girls even better.”
Abagi expressed concern over the increasing number of abuse cases involving minors, including one involving a three-year-old child.
She argued that while the Violence Against Persons (VAP) Act provides strong legal protections, more effort is needed to raise public awareness.
During the bail exercise led by Justice Baba-Yusuf, over 150 cases were reviewed, with more than 20 inmates—many of them women—discharged. One woman’s sentence was also reduced.
“We are excited this exercise is happening,” said Abagi.
“But inefficiencies in the judicial process still need urgent attention.”
She praised the Chief Judge for promoting timely justice delivery and encouraged other state judges to adopt similar reforms to ensure prisons are not used unnecessarily.
Asked whether the PPDC paid any bail fines, Abagi noted that no funds were needed.
“Most of the conditions involved civil service sureties. The CJ was magnanimous in granting several releases,” she explained.
Abagi urged other Nigerian states to replicate the FCT’s approach in addressing prison congestion. She emphasised that many inmates are held for offences that could be resolved through less severe means.
“Prisons are not sweet places. And the cost of caring for inmates comes from taxpayers,” she said.
“In one case involving N50,000, the judge observed that the amount had already been spent on the inmate’s upkeep in a single day.”
