THE Nigeria Correctional Service has stepped up efforts to track down and recapture escaped inmates of the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre, Niger State.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Thursday, said the government would relocate a lot of correctional centres to create better infrastructure and security.
Tunji-Ojo made the pledge when he visited the Niger custodial centre, where 119 inmates had escaped following a rainstorm that damaged the facility on Wednesday.
This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Ozoya Imohimi.
The minister said it was imperative to relocate a lot of the correctional centres to a conducive environment.
“This facility was built in 1914 to house 250 inmates. Before this incident, we had 499.
“This is what we keep talking about — the overcrowding of our correctional centres.
“You can look at the environment; it shows that we need to relocate them away from the city centre before creating better space, security and infrastructure,” he added.
According to him, the ministry was already working behind the scenes to fashion out a correctional system that would work for all.
Tunji-Ojo assured that such an incident would not happen again in any other facility across the country.
Frantic prison officials were said to have stormed the Zuba motor park in search of the escaping inmates.
They reportedly searched commercial buses and taxi cabs as they widened the dragnet for the fugitives.
Duza stated that the NCoS was aware that many of its facilities were built during the colonial era, and had become old and weak, adding that the service was constructing new facilities to replace the old ones.
He added, “This is evidenced in the ongoing construction of six 3,000-capacity ultra-modern custodial centres in all the geo-political zones in Nigeria. This also includes the ongoing reconstruction and renovation of existing ones.”
The FCT NCoS spokesperson said the service would soon display the names and pictures of the fleeing inmates on its website.
Duza noted that the command was collaborating with other security agencies to recapture the remaining fleeing inmates, adding that their pictures and names would soon be released to the public.
He noted, “Our intelligence officers, armed squadron officers, in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, and other security agencies are combing the neighbouring communities to find the fleeing inmates. Very soon, we shall publish the names and pictures of the fleeing inmates.”
Security officials on Thursday night, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter, said a total of 50 inmates had been recaptured.
Senior NCS sources, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, because they were not authorised to comment on the matter, stated that the service will also intensify efforts to recapture inmates from the Niger jailbreak and previous jailbreaks in the country.
One of the sources noted that the service will also pay attention to the Internally Displaced Persons camps as some of the inmates may seek refuge there.
“The NCS will track the escaped prisoners from the correctional facility. The service shall also turn attention to the IDP camps to ensure the fleeing inmates do not seek refuge there,” he said.
According to this newspaper findings, there are over 4,000 escaped inmates from the nation’s correctional facilities in the last five years yet to be recaptured.
