The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, on Wednesday confirmed the attack on the Kuje Correctional Custodial Centre in Abuja occurred as soldiers who were on duty were being rotated.
It will be recalled that terrorists broke into the facility on July 5 and freed hundreds of inmates, including Boko Haram members.
He said this during a one-day investigative hearing on two motions, “Decongestion of Correctional Centres in Nigeria” and “Call on the Nigerian Correctional Service to Account for Inmates that escaped from Kuje custodial facility.
The hearing was organised by the Joint House of Representatives Committees on Reformatory Institutions, Justice, Police Affairs, Interior and Human Rights.
Lagbaja, who was represented by the Assistant Director, Commercial Law, the Directorate of Nigerian Army Legal Services, Major Peter Ogbuinya said the situation did not call for trading blame but should be aimed at getting a possible solution and forestalling a similar occurrence.
“We the Nigerian Army are playing a complementary role to the correctional centre by virtue of provision of guards to assist the correctional centre.
“However in the Correctional Centre, Kuje to be precise, Nigeria Army is not the only security agency that is deployed there. There are other sister agencies that were also deployed. Unfortunately the day the incident occurred, there is what we call rotation among the troops, rotation of troops. Take for instance the end of every month, troops would be rotated. New soldiers would be brought in to replace the old ones.
“Unfortunately it was that day during the period of rotation that the incident actually took place. I wouldn’t want to comment on the possibility or otherwise of having an insider, looking at the period the incident took place,” he said.
He said soldiers that were deployed at the time were still being probed and if found to have culpable in the incident would be appropriately punished.
“On our own side, the troops that we deployed are under investigation and the military hierarchy is still working on possibly finding out if there is any of the soldiers that had failed to do what they were expected to do and possibly disciplinary action taken but as it is, it is still within the military hierarchy and military courts to look at the matter critically to know if the soldiers that were deployed had done the needful,” he said.
He said prior to that incident, the Nigeria Army through the Guards Brigade Commander, had written series of letters to the Deputy Controller General concerning some of the security observations about the facility.
“We know that the Deputy Controller General is doing is everything possible to see if most of these equipment that would enhance the security is provided. However it was still on the process when the incident happened.
“One of those things was the issue of lightning. During the period, we noticed that there was no lightning within the general area. It’s not as if it was deliberate. Efforts were being made by the Deputy Controller to see if we could find solutions to some of these challenges.
“We also observed that the place where the Kuje Prison is located is more of a built up area and that gives room for a serious security challenge where a lot of civilians are living among the prison environment.
“These are some of the challenges the environment created. We also observed issues of low fencing and CCTV absence within the general area. These are some of the things that we observed and these things were unable to be put in place before the incident. I want to believe that these things would have assisted the guards.
The Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, who stressed the need for the decongestion of the correctional facilities, said Nigeria has a total inmate population of 78, 519 against a capacity of 64, 192.
He was represented by the Deputy Controller General, Training and Staff Development, Tukur Mohammed Ahmad.
He said, “The decongestion of custodial centres has become the concern of all and sundry partly due to the unending challenges it causes to the criminal justice system in Nigeria. Efforts are put in place by the Federal Government to cut costs of feeding the inmates which often runs into billions of naira annually.
“The NCOS maintains 265 custodial centres across the country, with the capacity of 64, 192 against a total inmate population of 78, 519 as at March 18, 2024. Of this actual inmate population, 70 percent represents persons on awaiting trial.”
He said to achieve the speedy decongestion of the correctional centres in the country, there is need for the completion of the 3000 capacity new custodial centres that are built across the six geopolitical zones.
He also said the Service needed more funding.
The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, lauded the Committees for their joint efforts on the fact-finding mission to the root of the overcrowding nature of correctional centres in addition to the inmates that escaped from Kuje custodial facility, two years ago which left the nation in utter embarrassment.
He said the ultimate objective of the investigative hearing is to examine the activities of the correctional service in order to promote accountability, transparency and responsiveness in the running of the agency for enhanced service delivery, contribute significantly to the overall progress and development of our country.
Chairman of the Committee on Reformatory Institutions, Comrade Chinedu Ogah, said the congestion of custodial facilities across the country is an affront to human rights and a major drawback of the criminal justice system with very dire consequences.
Ogah said incessant violations of correctional centres and inmates escape are extremely embarrassing and a security threat to the nation.
He expressed their resolve for a holistic overhauling of the system for effective and purposeful justice delivery and for optimal performance of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
“I wish to assure you that the Committee with the strongest support of the Leadership of the House, led by Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas (PhD) is poised to engage all legislative tools at its disposal to ensure effective and efficient criminal justice system second to none in the world,” he said.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, who was represented by Mrs Ayola Daniels said efforts have been ongoing towards decongestion of correctional centres nationwide.
He said the Ministry of Justice supported the efforts to decentralise the correctional service to allow states establish and manage their own correctional centres.
This, he said, was achieved through the alteration of the constitution that moved the correctional service from exclusive to concurrent list.
He said this is expected to fast track the decongestion of Correctional centres nationwide when properly implemented.
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