Sir: In the words of late Nelson Mandela, “No one truly knows a nation until it has been in its jails”. This famous quote of former president of South Africa who himself spent a greater part of his youthful life incarcerated succinctly captures the reality of most correctional centres all over the world and the below average condition of most inmates and how they struggle to navigate life daily inside the walls of the correctional facilities.
Which begs the question if truly the centres are correctional or it’s just semantics. Because an offender is expected to serve term in custody, go through various stages of development so that when he or she regains freedom, reintegration into the society will be seamless and the returning offender would have acquired adequate correction and become a better citizen.
Even in cases where an offender is spending the rest of their lives in confinement, one of the UN international human and prisoners’ rights promulgated in 1990 states that “All prisoners shall be treated with the respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings.”
Another of the rights as promulgated also stated that “Conditions shal be created enabling prisoners to undertake meaningful remunerated employment which will facilitate their reintegration into the country’s labour market and permit them to contribute to their own financial support and to that of their families.”
The submission above clearly explains the need to recognize that though the correctional centres are to serve as punishment to offenders, it has a duty to accord human dignity and respect on all inmates regardless of what they are there for. It is on that premise that most correctional centres are being charged to revisit issues of offenders’ welfare and ensure that the right practices are being done.
Since the establishment of Nigeria Prisons, now Nigerian Correctional Service, in 1872 by the British, the Service has gone through various reforms, the last being 2019 that led to the name changed to Nigerian Correctional Service. Many issues have been raised concerning the Custodial Centres, such as state of the physical structure, staff welfare, inter agency collaborations for intelligence purposes, decongestion etc.…but not much has been achieved, until recently, in the area of offenders welfare.
For every time offenders welfare has been brought to the fore, somehow it never seemed to get the needed support as expected, therefore efforts to revive the living condition of inmates has always fallen short of expectation. The administration of current Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa is however moving in the right direction with regards to welfare for offenders and it is commendable.
Over the course of the last years, efforts were taken to improve the all-round training and welfare measures of inmates as well as basic infrastructure and facilities. The service strengthened the Adult and Remedial Education Programmes, Vocational Training and Skills Acquisition as well as Human Rights/Welfare of Prisoners. Also, inmates who were students before imprisonment can now continue their academic pursuit concurrently while serving their jail-terms. This enabling environment for educational programmes was provided across all custodial facilities.
The Service has also improved medical care for offenders in recent time through the provision of drugs, treatment of sick inmates and upgrade of the medical facilities across the Custodial Centres.
Apart from the aforementioned, another issue that has refused to go away and requires urgent attention is that of daily allowance for the offenders. Information available still have it that inmates are only entitled to about N750 for feeding, which translates to N250 per meal thrice a day. This is very poor going by current state of inflation and cost of living in Nigeria of today. This is why stories about the very poor and unhealthy meals being served to offenders in the prisons will not go away.
The Honourable Minister of interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo is hereby called upon to look into the budget of the Nigeria Correctional Service and see how this can be improved to enable inmates have a befitting meal experience. Looking at how high the cost of living is as at today, it will not be out of place to suggest anything within the region of 1500 to 2500 naira per day.
Already, the Honourable Minister’s strides have been felt in the Correctional Service in the prompt release of over 4000 inmates in November, through his intervention. This is highly commendable and it shows that the minister is truly committed to serve. More of this support is however required in all other areas, including those highlighted above for a smooth running of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
•Chief Henry Udutchay,
Abuja.
