A disturbing new report has revealed that nearly three-quarters of children and young adults held in Nigeria’s borstal institutions are languishing in detention without trial, raising fresh concerns over the country’s juvenile justice system.
According to the report, titled “An Assessment of the Situation of Children and Young Adults Deprived of Liberty in Nigeria,” 74 per cent of those in borstals have either not been tried or are still awaiting the outcome of legal processes.
Only 26 per cent have been convicted, a figure experts describe as alarmingly low for a system meant to rehabilitate, not punish.
The report was developed by the Federal Ministry of Interior in collaboration with UNICEF Nigeria and offers a comprehensive analysis of the status of detained minors between 2018 and 2022. It was officially published in 2025.
A total of 133,906 children and young adults were detained across Nigeria within the period under review, including 3,967 in borstal institutions, 7,375 in remand homes, and a staggering 122,564 in adult custodial centres—despite the latter being unsuitable for minors.
The data showed a troubling gender imbalance, with 95 per cent of detainees being male. About 2,120 of them were below 16 years of age, while over 120,000 fell within the 16 to 20 age bracket.
Stealing and theft accounted for nearly half (47%) of the offences committed by minors across 17 states, followed by rape (2.8%), cultism, murder, and various child-protection related detentions such as “wandering” or being deemed “beyond parental control.”
The report highlighted a critical lack of legal representation, noting that an average of 68.2 per cent of detained minors had no access to legal aid. This, in turn, correlates with a 64.8 per cent complaint rate about delayed justice delivery.
In addition to the legal setbacks, the assessment revealed harsh detention conditions, including overcrowding, poor sanitation, inadequate healthcare and education, and widespread exposure to abuse and torture.
Many of the children and young adults were reportedly victims of poverty, neglect, or abandoned by their families, further complicating their chances of securing bail or rehabilitation.
The report called for urgent systemic reforms and a coordinated response from stakeholders across government, civil society, and the legal community to protect the rights of children in custody.
It urged the Nigerian government to establish a more compassionate juvenile justice system where all minors are treated with dignity, provided equal access to justice, and supported through proper rehabilitation programmes.
Stakeholders say that without immediate intervention, Nigeria risks breeding a new generation of traumatized youth, unjustly criminalized and permanently scarred by a broken system meant to protect them.
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