Government of Enugu State has commended the Federal Government for approving the relocation of the Enugu Correctional Centre located at the GRA, saying it is ready to partner with the central government to actualise it soonest.

The assurances were given by the governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, when he received members of the House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions in his office at the Government House, Enugu, on Wednesday.

He told the team led by the Committee Chairman, Hon. Chinedu Ogah that the state government had always advocated for the relocation of the facility, which was built in 1915, from the city centre to a more suitable location.

“It is highly commendable that the Federal Government has sanctioned the relocation of Enugu Correctional Center. This is something we have been advocating for. So, I think you have a real partner in the state government, as we have a coincidence of objective. So, we are going to anxiously be waiting to hear from you on how you want us to engage.

“We already have a survey, which we have done and we are more than happy to share the survey of the new location with you and we will take you to that location to see for yourselves,” Mbah stated.

Mbah called for the automation of the justice dispensing system to reduce the congestion of the correctional centres, highlighting the efforts of his administration to automate the justice system.

“On our part, we are not going to relent in the intervention we have made in the entire justice reform system.

“We have now fully automated our court processes and the idea is to ensure that there is speedy dispensation of justice because we also realised that a lot of the inmates we have in the correctional centres are those who are awaiting trial.

“If we can ensure speedy dispensation of justice, then we would also have to adjust these congested correctional centres significantly.

“That is essentially what we are doing with this automation of not just court processes, but also even the court proceedings.

“That is why I said full automation because even the longhand is no longer required in our courts because we now have verbatim reporters. This is a process we had started a year ago.

“We are happy it is now coming to a conclusion stage,” Mbah concluded.

In his remarks, Hon. Ogah commended Governor Mbah on improved security of lives and property in the state, stressing that “people can now drive through Enugu State at any time of the day without any fear.”

He added that the state government’s investment in security technology and effort of the correctional officers and security had ensured there was no jailbreak in Enugu State, and lauded the development strides of the governor, which he said were providing jobs, boosting economic development, and diminishing crimes.

The Committee welcomed the governor’s proactive approach to relocating the correctional centre through the provision of the proposed new site and also sought the support of the government in the area of vehicles for the conveyance of inmates to and fro trial sessions.