ABUJA, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria has concluded arrangement to develop an e-prison system in a bid to check incessant jail breaks in the West African country, a top government official said on Wednesday.
Minister of Interior Abba Moro told reporters in Abuja that the Nigerian government was introducing Electronic surveillance at the borders as well as reorganizing its new visa policy to remove bottlenecks in visa issuance to attract direct foreign investors.
According to him, the country's total number of prisoners is said to be in the region of 54,000, with 38,000 of the figure awaiting trials.
He told reporters that there is a new policy for the production of passports under a private public partnership arrangements which has helped to reduce the long queue in pass part issuance.
The Nigerian Prison Service was still operating on the basis of 1963 Prisons Act which he said is out dated adding that a new bill has been sent to the National Assembly to update the law.
The bill he said will help to address some of the teething problems the prison system is encountering.
The new bill is expected to classify the nature of crimes and the type of punishments.
