Date: 2021-10-29

A total number of 122 children have been released from the Borstal Training Institution in Ilorin, Kwara state, following an order by the presidential committee on correctional reform and decongestion.

The Borstal Institutions are remand centres for offenders between the age of 21, with facilities in Kwara, Kaduna, Ogun, Osun, among other states.

The federal ministry of justice in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) deployed a technical team of 10 persons to the institution in Kwara.

The team, led by Ishaq Bello, former chief judge of the FCT high court and chairman of the committee, assessed a total of 225 children in the facility.

In a statement on Thursday, Modupe Ogundoro, deputy director of information, ministry of justice, said the main purpose of the visit was "to conduct on-the-spot assessment and condition of the juveniles in the institution".

According to the statement, Bello frowned at the living conditions and welfare of the children, noting that the institute was congested due to non-compliance to laid-down entry qualifications for admission.

"The committee observed from the document made available by the institute, that there were discrepancies in the admission of children to the Institute which flouted the purpose for which it was established," Ogundoro said.

"He reminded that the institute was established as reformation and rehabilitation centre to accommodate children between the ages of 16 to 21 years and not to be used as dumping ground." On his part, Bello expressed concern over the illegalities concerning the institution.

"The qualifying age of admission is 16- 21 years. Anybody above 24 years has outgrown their stay and not fit for the institute. It is a breach of extant law establishing the Institute," he was quoted as saying.

Ogundoro said out of the children released, two who performed excellently in their WAEC examinations were awarded education scholarships to tertiary institutions by the ministry of justice.