PETTY offences’ criminalisation, leading to arbitrary arrests and detention, is widespread, a report by the Prisoners’  Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) and  Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA) has said.

The report was based on a survey on decriminalisation and declassification of petty offences in Lagos.

The survey, which was carried out in five locations: Lagos, Abia, Enugu and Kano states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), revealed widespread criminalisation  and punishment for petty offences, leading to arbitrary arrests and detention.

This, according to the report, violates human rights and freedom of, especially the poor, the marginalised and vulnerable people, which has made such persons to languish in jail for petty  offences.

PRAWA’s Executive Director, Dr Uju Agomoh, who spoke during the report presentation in Lagos, said many of the petty offences being criminalised have outlived their usefulness, adding that some of them had been in the lawbooks since colonial years.

She argued that it was to reverse the trends that the group engaged in the campaign to decriminalised and declassify petty offences as well as seek alternative punishment to imprisonment, such as non-custodial sentences.

Agoma said as evident from the locations where the survey were conducted, the petty offences amounted to “criminalisation of poverty, homelessness and unemployment, emphasising that their enforcement  has continued to have negative consequences on the poor, the marginalised and persons with disabilities.

She listed some of the offences, which the vulnerable, the poor and the marginalised are being arrested for and charged to court to include alms begging, having no means of livelihood, environmental offences, common nuisance and prostitution among others.

Indiscriminate enforcement, arbitrary and unlawful arrest targeted at the poor and the marginalised, she argued, have been responsible for the high number of awaiting trials inmates in prisons.

She said custodial sentences for petty offenders also have negative effect by sending an innocent person to prison for having no means of livelihood and thus become a hardened criminal.

She said putting the vulnerable in prison has high cost implication for the government as the inmates would have to be fed.

While admitting that Lagos State is far ahead other states in terms of criminal justice system reforms, Dr Agoma regretted that the state is also in the black book of criminalisation of petty offences.

She urged the state government to carry out more reforms of the criminal justice system to decriminalised petty offences and allow for non-custodial sentences instead of prisons for more people.

A PRAWA board member, Prof. Chizo Okafor, argued that for the country to move forward in its criminal justice delivery system, there is a need to remove outdated laws that have been removed in the statute books of developed countries.

According to her, the practice of these laws will continue to have negative effect on the society and give the country a bad image.

Assistant Director, Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Mr Abayomi Odusanya, said OPD’s responsibility is to ensure that the voiceless and economically disadvantaged are catered for within the justice system.

He agreed with other stakeholders that those committing lesser offences are children and other underaged “who are yet to understand their left from their right”.

He suggested “training and re-training” of those enforcing the law to reverse the trend.

Assistant Controller of Prisons (ACP) in charge of Welfare, Tunde Ladipo, in his remarks  disclosed that a bill to reform the Prison system is awaiting President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent.

Ladipo said the bill would change the name, the Nigerian Prisons Service to Nigerian Correctional Services as being done around the world now, and would also have provisions for custodial and non-custodial sentences as part of efforts to decongest the prisons.

“We would have Community Sentencing and parole system. Some people would be used on farm settlements and to clean the streets. A lot of work is on-going. Everyone, who comes to prison now must have something to do,” he said.

The new Lagos State Controller of Prison (CP) Noel Ailewon remarked that the Non-Governmental  Organisations (NGOs) have brought a lot of improvements to prisons unlike what obtained in the past.

PRAWA’s Deputy Director , Mrs Ogechi Ogu, who took stakeholders through the report of the survey, explained that African Charter on Human Rights was very explicit on non-discrimination in the enforcement of the law, adding that it was to prevent such occurrence that the African Union (AU)  came up with the Ouagadougou Declaration.

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