Over 64,000 inmates have received non-custodial sentences from 2021-2025, according to data shared by the Controller of Corrections (Probation) at the Nigerian Correctional Service, Ponyaka Nandang, during a public hearing in Abuja on Thursday.
Non-custodial sentences, which are alternatives to imprisonment, include community service, suspended sentences, fines, probation, and restitution orders.
These measures aim to rehabilitate offenders and reduce prison overcrowding by providing non-incarceration punishments.
Speaking before the Independent Investigative Panel on Alleged Corruption, Abuse of Power, Torture, and Other Inhumane Treatment against the NCoS, Nandang revealed that “from 2021 to 2024, a total of 54,523 inmates — 49,463 men and 5,060 women — were placed under non-custodial measures nationwide.”
He added that “between January and June 2025, another 10,406 inmates — 9,207 men and 1,199 women — have received similar sentences.”
Despite the growing use of these alternatives to incarceration, Nandang highlighted ongoing challenges such as inadequate funding, limited staffing, and weak judicial collaboration.
He warned that without stronger institutional support, the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of non-custodial measures — established under the NCoS Act of 2019 — remain uncertain.
“We have some impediments, and it’s very obvious.
“One of the major impediments is funds. No budgetary allocations deliberately meant for restorative justice,” he lamented.
He criticised the lack of infrastructure and basic logistics to support operations in many areas.
“Sometimes you beg a local government chairman to give you an office, he gives, but no seats, nothing to carry out those exercises,” he noted.
The human resource deficit is equally a challenge. According to Nandang, “the total number of officers managing non-custodial services across the country is just 1,563.
“The state with the highest number, Kebbi, has 131 staff. Imo State has the fewest, with only seven officers.”
The controller also cited weak judicial participation in the implementation of non-custodial measures, especially regarding probation and parole.
“Most courts have not be granting probation orders.
“Either that the substantive laws have not really been able to capture probation orders sufficiently,” he lamented.
While parole boards have been established across several states, delays persist due to the absence of necessary technical committees at the national level.
“We are yet to form the technical committees who are to sit on these recommendations and then eventually grant parolees those prospective parolees,” the controller lamented.
Nandang also expressed concern that restorative justice is being hampered by rigid legal interpretations, despite its potential.
“Even inmates on death row, can you also kick-start the process of restorative justice? Not necessarily with a view that these people should be removed out of custodial centres, but that relationships should be restored.”
To bridge the implementation gaps, he called for collaboration with traditional institutions, vigilante groups, and non-state actors, whom he said have already been instrumental in some areas.
“Because of the inadequacy of staff, we have sometimes had to use the vigilante groups in executing some of the court sentences,” the controller noted.
He also called for the judiciary and prosecuting agencies to align with the correctional service’s efforts, warning that outdated legal provisions are hindering progress.
“Most judiciary officers will tell you that you do not have enough provisions to back up this implementation of non-custodial services.”
In spite of the obstacles, Nandang remains hopeful that with stronger political will, legal reforms, and stakeholder cooperation, the non-custodial system can play a transformative role in Nigeria’s justice sector.
“Non-custodial measures is helping the Nigerian Correctional Service but there are so many challenges. If together we want this thing to work, we need the support of every stakeholder.”
