The Nigeria Correctional Service has escalated efforts to locate and bring back escaped inmates from the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre in Niger State, as reported by Saturday PUNCH.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, during a visit to the Niger custodial centre, pledged the government’s commitment to relocating several correctional facilities for improved infrastructure and security.
Tunji-Ojo emphasised the necessity of relocating these centres to more suitable environments, ensuring better conditions for inmates.
He reassured citizens that measures were being implemented to prevent such incidents from occurring in other facilities nationwide.
Samson Duza, spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory command of the Nigerian Correctional Service, disclosed that out of the 119 initially escaped inmates, 14 have been recaptured by security forces.
The FCT command oversees the Kuje and Suleja medium security custodial centres in Abuja and Niger State.
Speaking on the incident during a visit to the facility, the minister said, “The President has always talked about urbanisation eating into our correctional centres.
“You can look at the environment; it shows that we need to relocate a lot of our correctional centres, and we need to relocate them away from city centres to create better space, security, and infrastructure.
“But as we have said, we are not here to make excuses. We are here to take responsibility. I want to assure you that we are talking to our sister agencies to make sure that we can synergise, collaborate, and ensure that there is a timely return of these escapees.
“This was a facility that was built to house 250 inmates. Before the incident, we had 499 inmates, which leads us to what we have been talking about – overcrowding in our correctional centres.
He stated that there is an urgent need for reforms in the over 240 custodial centres nationwide.
Speaking to journalists after surveying the damage caused by the rainstorm, the minister attributed the breach to a natural disaster.
He also assured swift action, emphasising the ongoing hunt for the escapees.
Tunji-Ojo pledged the Federal Government’s dedication to returning the 105 inmates to custody.
