PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the relocation of 29 custodial centres across the country.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this while commissioning 39 mini Green Maria operational vehicles and five bullet resistance guard booths at the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
“In terms of the relocation of our correctional centres, the president has graciously approved for us to start the process of relocating about 29 custodial centres across the country.”
“For Instance, Agodi in Ibadan, what is a custodial centre doing in a market? For instance Ikoyi, why are you sharing a fence with people playing golf? For instance, Enugu, what are you doing inside the GRA? For instance, Akwa Ibom, why are you facing the government house? For instance, Port Harcourt is there, even Suleja,” he said.
While noting that some of the custodial centres were over 100 years old, the minister said they were no longer good enough to house the inmates.
“I want to assure you that the process of relocation of custodial centres has started and we will do it.”
Speaking earlier, the Controller General of NCoS, Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, said the 39 operational vehicles procured were for the safe and efficient transportation of inmates to and from courts, assuring that they would be distributed strategically across NCoS’ commands based on identified operational needs and pressing demands.
He said, beyond enhancing inmates’ court attendance, the vehicles would play a vital role in addressing the longstanding issue of Awaiting Trial Persons (ATP) in NCoS custody.
As of Monday 17th, February 2025, the total inmate population stood at 80,066. Out of this number, 53,225, representing 66 per cent, are pretrial inmates while only 34% or 26,841 inmates are convicted inmates serving various times.
He said the Guard-Booths, on the other hand, would be stationed at the National Headquarters, Abuja; Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje; Maximum Security Custodial Centres, Port Harcourt; Kano and Lagos.
“These are meant to secure our custodial centres against external attacks and are equipped with long-range surveillance capabilities to protect against high-level threats with resistance to 12.7mm Ammunition General Multi-Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), and other forms of dynamites and explosives.
