Nigeria’s jail inhabitants rose by 11,764 inmates between 2017 and Q2 2025, deepening stress on correctional services throughout the nation.
That is in line with new knowledge from the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS) titled Nigerian Correctional Service Statistics (2017–Q2 2025).
The info highlights a gentle rise in inmate numbers, persistent overcrowding, and a legal justice system nonetheless weighed down by a big inhabitants of awaiting-trial detainees.
The report exhibits that whereas authorities funding has expanded jail capability over time, the expansion has not saved tempo with the rising inmate inhabitants, leaving many services severely overstretched.
In line with the NBS, Nigeria’s whole inmate inhabitants elevated from 69,946 in 2017 to 81,710 by the second quarter of 2025, representing a rise of 11,764 inmates or 16.82% over the eight-year interval.
Throughout the identical interval, the official capability of correctional centres rose from 53,752 to 65,035, reflecting a 20.99% enhance. Regardless of this enlargement, the nation’s prisons stay overcrowded, as inmate numbers proceed to outstrip out there house in lots of services.
A serious contributor to this development is the persistent dominance of unsentenced inmates. The variety of inmates awaiting trial or remand grew from 47,610 in 2017 to 53,790 by Q2 2025, an increase of 12.98%. This factors to ongoing challenges corresponding to gradual judicial processes, courtroom congestion, and restricted entry to authorized illustration.
State-level figures reveal important disparities in jail congestion throughout the nation. Lagos State recorded the best inmate inhabitants in Q2 2025, with 9,209 inmates housed in services constructed to accommodate solely 4,167 individuals.
“Different states with excessive inmate populations have been Ogun (4,939), Kano (4,667), and Enugu (3,536). Conversely, Kogi had the bottom inmate inhabitants (530), adopted by Bayelsa (696), and Benue (777),” NBS acknowledged.
The report additionally sheds gentle on the varieties of offences contributing to jail admissions. On the finish of 2024, correctional services nationwide recorded a complete of 176,536 inmate admissions.
Remand and awaiting-trial circumstances accounted for the biggest share, with 94,614 admissions, reinforcing issues that detention is often used as a default possibility fairly than a final resort.
Condemned circumstances accounted for the fewest admissions at 2,883 inmates, indicating that death-row circumstances make up a comparatively small proportion of the entire jail inhabitants.
By way of offence classes, stealing was the commonest motive for incarceration, accounting for 55,722 admissions.
This was adopted by “different offences” with 46,043 admissions and armed theft with 10,090.
Against this, offences typically linked to high-profile enforcement efforts recorded very low numbers, with bribery and corruption accounting for simply 27 admissions, cybercrime 48, and smuggling 118.
The info underscores deep structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s legal justice system, notably the heavy reliance on custodial detention for minor offences and the gradual tempo of legal trials.
With greater than half of inmates nonetheless awaiting trial, overcrowding is much less a perform of rising crime alone and extra a mirrored image of systemic inefficiencies.
Overcrowded prisons pressure authorities sources, worsen dwelling circumstances for inmates, and undermine the rehabilitative function of correctional centres.
Nigeria has launched non-custodial sentencing measures in recent times, together with group service and probation, however implementation stays restricted throughout many states.
Persistent jail congestion has been a recurring problem in previous NBS and Nigerian Correctional Service studies, largely pushed by awaiting-trial detainees.
Rights {groups} have repeatedly referred to as for judicial reforms and jail decongestion initiatives to align Nigeria’s correctional system with worldwide human rights requirements.
In August 2025, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) disclosed that no fewer than 8,246 inmates in custodial centres nationwide have been affected by psychological sickness.