Civil society group, Prisons Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), has urged federal and state legislatures to hasten the amendment of criminal laws and decriminalisation and declassification of minor and petty offences to decongest the prisons. PRAWA recommended that the laws need to be amended to reduce the kind of offenses that necessitate pretrial detention. It also affirmed the need for a nationwide screening and assessment of all children and young persons in pre-trial detentions for the purpose of their possible release or diversion.

The recommendation was contained in a communique after a two-day conference on corrections and decongestions administration in Nigeria held at Ladi Kwali Hall Abuja Continental Hotel, and organised by the Ministry of Interior, in collaboration with PRAWA and the Nigerian Correctional Service with the support of Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

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