From Ayodele Samuel,Lagos
The Lagos state government yesterday said it had assisted aggrieved residents of Lagos to recover the sum of over N479 million through payments of debt and compensations by its various agencies; and paid N99.6 million to the next of kin of deceased public servants while N10, 759, 809.54 was generated as revenue payable to the State Government.
Also 2,595 offenders have been sentenced in Lagos state to various terms of community service across the 12 magisterial districts of the state in the last one year.
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeola Ipaye disclosed this yesterday at a ministerial press briefing held in Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja to mark the seventh year in office of
Governor Babatunde Fashola.
Ipaye said “Between April 2013 and March 2014 a total of 2,595 offenders were sentenced to various terms of community service across the 12 Magisterial Districts of Lagos State.”
It will be recalled that the state government at the event marking the 2,500 days of the current administration said 1,015 offenders were sentenced to various community service in the last one hundred days.
According to the Attorney-General, “this number represents those who would have been otherwise incarcerated in prisons with the consequential disruption to their economic, social and family lives.”
The commissioner lamented “This is more so that many of the offenders are between the ages of 20 and 40, and are mostly male. In effect, we have succeeded in lowering the prison population without compromising the criminal justice administration system.
Ipaye noted that the community service initiative was part of the state government effort to reform Justice Sector in the state adding “Directorate of Public Prosecutions is also committed to speedy
trials, especially so that suspects are not detained too long awaiting trial.
“In one year, of the 1440 police investigation files sent to the DPP’s office for legal advice, the Unit has already completed work on 1369 while judgments were delivered in 76 cases. However, DPP is currently
prosecuting 950 criminal cases.
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