The Federal Government has stated that it will soon commence the auditing of prison inmates across all correctional centres in the country, News About Nigeria reports.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this while speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
He noted that the audit will take place across the 256 correctional centres in the country, adding that the government will also sanitise them by freeing those who don’t have any business being there in the first instance.
The Minister also stated that the federal government will initiate processes to relocate Ikoyi prison and some other prisons from urban centres in the country to other areas.
He commended the President Bola Tinubu-led administration for not having any jail attacks, noting that the government only experienced a force majeure in the Suleja prison due to its long age of existence.
“Under this administration, we’ve not had any jail attacks; what we’ve had was force majeure, which was Suleja, because that particular correctional centre was built in 1914. It’s about 110 years old.
“President Tinubu was not President a 110 years old. He inherited 256 correctional centres that needed attention. There is no way he would have completely overhauled it in one year.
“I must talk about urbanisation. Look at Suleja; for example, the Suleja correctional centre that came down was only 7 metres away from the next house, instead of what the law says, which is a buffer space of 100 metres. So, urbanisation has eaten deep.
“Look at Ikoyi Correctional Centre sharing a fence with another house. What’s the prison doing in Ikoyi? This administration is looking at being able to initiate the process of possibly relocating some of these correctional centres,” he stated.
He further noted that the federal government has renovated over 10 correctional centres under this administration, adding that the government has done magic in the Kuje correctional centre.
