Minister seeks mobile courts to free unjustly incarcerated women.

The ministry is collaborating with relevant parties to set up mobile courts, according to Uju-Kennedy Ohanenye, minister of women affairs, so that women who have been held in prison for long periods of time without trial can finally receive justice.

On Tuesday, in Abuja, to celebrate the 2024 International Women’s Day, the minister made the statement while speaking to press outside of a symposium on women’s empowerment.

Topics covered at the conference included children, young female entrepreneurs, and women. It was organised by the Arise Monalisa Foundation and One Percent International Management Services Limited.

Many women, according to Ohanenye, have been left for dead in prisons for years as they await trial for relatively minor charges.

The creation of the mobile court, she argued, would assist these women and help alleviate prison overcrowding.

“Do you recall when they informed me that ladies were suffering when I arrived as minister?” I was compelled to visit the jail campus. For relatively little debts—as little as N10,000, N15,000, or N20,000—I seen numerous women left behind in prison for more than four years while they awaited prosecution.

From what I mentioned earlier about the inhumanity towards humans, it seems that they simply abandon them there as they believe no one will advocate for them. We strongly oppose this practice.

I went immediately to Mr. President and asked for a mobile court to get these women released. Mr. President said go ahead and gave me the green light, she claimed.

As far as the minister is concerned, she has reached out to the federal attorney general and state governors in an effort to secure their cooperation.

I was given the consent letter after submitting an application to the governor’s forum and being invited to deliver a presentation, both of which were approved.

“I have to make sure it’s applied in every state right now,” Ohanenye continued.

She stated that she was resolute in her pursuit of the mission’s completion despite encountering several obstacles.

We have an opportunity to help our sister ladies breathe easier and reduce prison overcrowding by doing this.

“I told them it would be doable because this will protect the lives of women and children,” the minister stated, referring to the opposition’s claims that a mobile court was impossible.