NIGERIA: 1,639 INMATE ON DEATH ROW – PRISONS SERVICE

February 27, 2016: The Nigeria Prisons Service stated  that 1,639 inmates are awaiting execution in various prisons across the country.
The Public Relations Officer of Prisons, Francis Emorde, said the the last time the Service carried out execution was in 2013.
He explained that the unwillingness of the state governors to sign execution orders as directed by law is the reason for the high number of death row inmates in the country.
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), shows the number of death row inmates have increased drastically in the last four years. Sixteen people were on death row 2007, 92 in 2008, 31 in 2009, 56 in 2010, and 72 in 2011, with the latest statement from the Prisons Service confirming that the figure has swelled to 1, 639.
In 2014, 659 death sentences were recorded, a jump of more than 500 compared with the 2013 figures – 141.
The dramatic rise in the death sentence is attributed to the mass death sentences passed on soldiers, who were convicted of mutiny in the context of the armed conflict with Boko Haram terrorists in the North, by military courts. (Source: The New Telegraph, 28/02/2016)