DEARTH OF REMAND HOMES

Remand homes should be well-provided for

The prevailing depressed economy in the country is no doubt accentuating the problem of juvenile crimes as many families increasingly become unable to live up to the challenge of parenthood. It is therefore concerning that in many states, there are no remand homes to serve as detention centres for children who are either awaiting trial or have been convicted of offenses. Due to absence of such facility in Gombe, according to the chairman of the state chapter of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Benjamin Sati, juvenile offenders are often sent to custodial centres where they become hardened.

In other societies, vulnerable children who need protection and those beyond parental control are commonly kept in remand homes. That was also the case in the pre-colonial and early post-colonial Nigeria, but not anymore. “Because of the lack of remand homes in Gombe State, underage persons are housed together with adults in the correctional facility,” Sati said while also lamenting how a juvenile offender was granted bail in the state because there was nowhere to legally keep him but ended up killing another victim just two weeks later. “If he was under some supervision in a remand home, perhaps no more life would have been lost.”

This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Nigeria is signatory to the Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter, and thus the treatment of the young offenders must conform to international standards.  Although the Gombe Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Zubair Umar, has promised to address the issue due to growing criminal activities among teens, the challenge is not restricted to the state. It is a national problem. Even in a few states where these remand homes exist, they are plagued by overcrowding, poor living conditions, malnutrition, physical and emotional abuse, and inadequate access to education and healthcare.

The situation in this supposedly corrective home is not remarkably different from those of adults in conflict with the law. Indeed, the conditions at the remand homes reflect the national attitude towards children and the most vulnerable groups in Nigeria. Like the prisons, the few remand homes in the country are oppressive institutions aimed at punishing offenders rather than rehabilitating them. The institutions are decrepit, ill-equipped and the inmates ill-fed. They are denied humane treatment and have no access to recreational and sporting activities. Even more, they also lack relevant educational and vocational trainings to equip inmates to live a sustainable life when they eventually return to the larger society.

Also disturbing is that Nigeria lacks a dedicated helpline that street children can access to seek protection, redress, or shelter, leaving them even more vulnerable to abuse and neglect. That perhaps explains why we have a large army of youths roaming the streets begging for alms instead of being in school. Without homes or any discernible means of survival except begging, these children are easily lured into all manner of crimes. Meanwhile, there is also a social factor to the problem. Available reports indicate that most of the children in the remand homes across the country are from the poor in society–those in dire need of care and protection. Many of them live on the street and engage in any activities to scrape by before running afoul of the law.

We urge the Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister to work with his counterparts in the 36 states to ensure that there are functional remand homes across the country. Inmates of these homes must also be equipped with basic skills that would enable them to fit easily into the larger society at the end of their reformation.