The Federal Government
of Nigeria has announced that it spends N1 million annually on each inmate at
correctional facilities across the country. This was revealed by Sola Fasure,
the Media Adviser to the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, in a statement
made on Saturday in Abuja.
The minister made this
disclosure while inaugurating a 20-bed COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund
Hospital and Equipment at the Maximum Security Custodial Centre in Port
Harcourt. Aregbesola said that the project would be an enduring legacy and a
testimony to the utmost importance that the Federal Government had placed on
the welfare of inmates and staff, as well as corrections.
He added that the
current administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari had made significant
progress in addressing the problem of inmates contracting diseases in custodial
centres. Aregbesola pointed out that these centres were once frightening hubs
for diseases like scabies and tuberculosis, among others, but that the
government had tackled the issue, and such diseases were now a thing of the
past.
The minister lamented
the enormous challenges involved in running correctional services, with demands
for infrastructure, equipment and the maintenance of inmate welfare. However,
he assured the public that the Federal Government had provided long-term
solutions to these challenges.
He noted that the Port
Harcourt custodial centre, which has a capacity for 1,800 inmates, currently
housed about 3,067 inmates. This overpopulation was also a reflection of the
situation in most urban custodial centres in Nigeria, which are congested.
Aregbesola explained
that the facilities and personnel are overstretched, but the government was
coping and providing long-term solutions to these challenges. One of these
solutions is the construction of mega 3,000-capacity custodial villages in six
geo-political zones of the country. The one for the South-South is located in
Bori, Rivers State, not far from the Port Harcourt custodial centre. The ones
for the North-West in Janguza, Kano and the North-Central in Karshi, Abuja, are
ready for inauguration.
The minister also
reiterated that the Federal Government would stop feeding inmates incarcerated
for breaching state laws, and he urged state governments to include feeding
their inmates in their budget process for next year.
Aregbesola expressed his
confidence that the new hospital would go a long way in addressing the medical
concerns of inmates and correctional service personnel. He commended the
management and staff of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) for their hard
work in keeping the virus away. The minister said that the new hospital was an
intervention aimed at providing robust healthcare for those in custody and NCoS
staff.
He added that the
interventions in consonance with other reforms in the NCoS would undoubtedly
translate to security, peace, and tranquillity in and around the centres, and
ultimately, the entire country.
