NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo has pledged to speed up the workings of the justice system to reduce the number of remand prisoners in Nigeria. The president, who was jailed for more than three years under the regime of late dictator Sani Abacha, said the government would build new prison buildings and separate convicts from prisoners on remand. More than 70 percent of the nearly 50000 people in the Nigerian prison system are on remand, awaiting trial, and many have been in detention for years. – AFP