The House of Representatives on Thursday, called for the review of prison farm and skills acquisition in support of the diversification agenda.
The House further urged the federal Ministry of Interior and the Nigeria Prison Service to resuscitate the prison farms as a means of reducing extreme hunger in the prisons across the nation.
This followed a motion by Rep. Chime Oji PDP-Enugu, which was unanimously adopted by members through a voice vote.
Moving the motion Oji said that Nigeria is signatory to Maputo declaration on 2013 on Agriculture by the conference of heads of states and Government of Africans (AU).
According to Oji, out of 56,785 prison inmates in the country, about 17,775 are convicts, leaving about 39,010 inmates on the awaiting trial list and this category can partake in the farming activities.
Oji expressed concern that the prison service no longer obtains farm produce since prison farms became moribund, a situation that is making it impossible to cater for the inmates only from the budgetary allocations due to economic recession.
He also added that, "I believe that the recurring incidents of jail break across the country, which have led to the death of over forty six prisons staff, may not be unconnected with the scarcity of food in prisons," he submitted.
The motion was further referred to the committees on Interior and Agriculture Production and Services to asses the level of compliance with the African Union food security and comprehensive productivity and report back in six weeks for further legislative action.
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