The Nation Newspaper

Tag: prisons

  • Prisons to explode?

    Prisons to explode?

    •Time to move away from a failing prison system

    THE country’s overcrowded federal prisons have become a matter of concern, not only to human rights advocates but to ordinary citizens with a sense of human decency. After several decades of overstretched facilities in prisons across the country, fears are rife that the prison system is at risk of explosion or implosion.
    The danger of prison collapse arises from subhuman conditions in which inmates are kept. Citizens with relations or friends to visit in prison often give grim descriptions of the dismal state of prisons in various parts of the country: appalling toilet conditions, stench-filled indoor air, poor feeding, inadequate water supply, etc., all of which result from keeping 2,000 inmates in facilities designed for 600.
    Reasons for the horrendous condition are not far-fetched. Out of the 68, 259 prison inmates in about 227 prisons, 46, 351 (68%) are suspects awaiting trial. There are also about 1,400 inmates awaiting executions. The high number of persons on death row is traced to failure of governors to endorse death warrants as prescribed by the constitution, and the dearth of hangmen to carry out executions. In effect, the conditions of prisons are so repulsive that pundits call for a state of emergency in respect of the prison infrastructure and management.
    Like everything else about the country, the solution to the life-denying situation in prisons requires government’s will to think out of the box. There is need to provide the right infrastructure in this sector. Governments: federal, state, and local must build new prisons and improve on existing ones. Subnational governments must also be positioned to monitor prison administrators closely, to ensure prisons are not overpopulated. Research has proved that prisoners incarcerated in substandard prisons are more likely to riot and get violent than those housed in life-affirming conditions.
    Furthermore, there is no excuse for any country to fill its jail with 68% of inmates who have not been found guilty of any offence. This aberration justifies the old saying: “Justice delayed is justice denied,” which the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 was designed to avoid. Nothing should stop the government from hiring more magistrates and judges to ensure that no suspect is in jail before he or she is duly convicted. It is callous to incarcerate citizens who have not been found guilty of any crime. In other countries, awaiting trial suspects who cannot obtain bail are subject to electronic or satellite tagging that restricts their movement to their homes, while awaiting trial. Many convicts for non-capital offences are sentenced to supervised community service.
    We believe that governors who are reluctant to endorse death warrants are not showing kindness to the convicts but cruelty. It is hypocritical to keep capital punishment on the legal books and then develop cold feet when duly convicted criminals are sentenced to death. It is also old-fashioned to insist on the use of hangmen. Criminals on death row in other parts of the civilised world no longer need to be killed by hanging or through other brutal methods. There are many more humane options to carry out capital punishment that the government ought to consider.
    Governments at all levels need to rethink many concepts and methods that have not worked in respect of crime and punishment. This is a right time to review criminalisation of minor rascally conduct, such as loitering, for which many young men are put in jail to await trial. Furthermore, length of jail term for non-capital offence needs to be reviewed. For example, many countries are shifting from imprisonment as punishment to rehabilitation, a principle that allows for early release of prisoners deemed to be of good behaviour. National and subnational governments need to improve governance and reduce inequality. The greater the inequality in a society, the greater the criminality. With good governance, a country currently with 69,000 prisoners in a population of 180 million may become less prone to crime.
    All said, we believe that making provision and administration of prison exclusive functions of the central government is wrong-headed. It is illogical to have a constitution that separates state from federal offences and then leaves prison administration for both categories of crime in the hands of the central government. This, like the practice of using a central police force to investigate and prosecute state offences, is likely to lead to insensitivity, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness. Prison should be taken from the Exclusive to the Concurrent list, as it was before the Unification Decree of 1966. Over-centralisation impedes efficiency.

  • Ugwuanyi and prisons

    The 1972 Prison Act needs rejig to accommodate state prisons, and even private funded prisons. Presently, most prisons in Nigeria are overcrowded shanties; and except for a few interventions, most of the prisons are still the old structure left behind by the colonial masters in 1960. The prison officials are under-remunerated, disillusioned and corrupt, while the system they supervise is grossly underfunded and run as an unwieldy behemoth from Abuja.

    On their part, the prisoners are abused, underfed and maltreated; unless, of course, the few VIP prisoners who are able to bribe the officials and pay their way for minimal comfort. But who cares for the ordinary prisoners? Because the governments, particularly the federal government, do not bother much about the state of our prisoners, churches and other non-government organisations have tried to fill the gap. Now, many churches run full-time prison ministries; and the Catholic Church’s JDPC and St Vincent De Paul devote a lot of resources to that.

    In most cases, it is only the poorest of the poor that end up as prisoners in Nigeria; and a large chunk of them are persons awaiting the drudgery trial under our inefficient criminal justice system. No doubt, our prisons are rarely correctional penitentiaries. They are more like concentration camps, or dehumanising centres, for the poor and the dregs of the society. Except for high profile cases in which the government has interest, and as such, mobilises the human and material resources, the prosecution process is very inefficient.

    With minimal resources to pay a lawyer and provide a paltry bribe for the police prosecutor, and in some cases judicial officials at the lower court, most offenders get easily discharged, if not acquitted, for offences they are guilty of. Where a complainant tenaciously pursues a criminal infraction against him, using personal resources, the accused need only bide time, for in due course, either the investigating police officer (IPO) is transferred, or the untrained police prosecutor mismanages the case, or the complainant gets disillusioned.

    So, when recently the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), noted the relative low number of persons in the prisons, vis-à-vis Nigeria’s population, in comparison with other jurisdictions, he was actually lamenting the grossly inefficient criminal justice system, which aids the poor to be goaled and the rich to go scot-free, even when otherwise guilty as charged. Because of the peculiar Nigerian situation, visiting the prisoner, may approximate more appropriately to the huge favour that Jesus Christ contemplated when he said, concerning the righteous, in Matthew 25:36: “I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

    Perhaps Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, of Enugu State may have joined his Christian obligation at this Easter period with his official responsibility to cater for all residents in the state, when he recently visited the prisoners in his state as part of his 53rd birthday celebrations. Significantly, the Governor has started a programme to pay honorarium to lawyers who volunteer to help free the overcrowded prisons in his state. Considering that I expressed my concern to him when it was reported last year that Enugu State has one of the highest number of awaiting-trial men in prisons, I congratulate the Governor and feel elated that he is taking steps to change the dynamics.

    I also read that the Governor has upgraded facilities at the prisons in the state, which is commendable. But while Governor Ugwuanyi may be fulfilling his official and spiritual obligations, I believe Nigeria needs to improve its criminal justice system. The inhuman condition in most prisons across the country is partly responsible for the jailbreaks and the attempts we experience. It is also likely that such inhuman condition is one more reason why an accused person gains sympathy and connivance by officials, to avoid going to jail.

    Perhaps it is time to tinker with the 1999 constitution, which lists Prisons as item number 48 in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the constitution. By virtue of section 4(1) (2) and (3) of the constitution, the exclusive legislative power of the national assembly on all matters in the Exclusive Legislative List is preserved. The import is that while states have their laws and their courts to try an accused person, where they secure a conviction, or need a temporal custody of the accused person, they have to rely on the federal prison and its officials.

    Again where the offence is of a nature to be tried in the Magistrate court, they may also have to rely on the police prosecutor, a federal official, to do the job. The outcome is that the states and the federal officials gift each other the inefficiency in their own system. Sometimes, there is collusion to undermine each other and such undercurrents are also partly the reason why our criminal justice system is so inefficient. So, as Ugwuanyi fulfils his dual obligations, he could also ponder whether the states should not make a case for state prisons, and an apex state court, to conclusively deal with offences against state laws.

    If amending the 1999 constitution, to tamper with the exclusivity of the federal government on prisons will be cumbersome, the national assembly can expand the powers of the Minister-in-charge to include authorising the establishment of state prisons or even private prisons. Indeed, the federal executive can also, under the present law, issue a guideline, to gift state options to run their own prisons. Section 2(1) of the prison act provides: “the minister may, by order in the federal Gazette, declare any building or place in Nigeria to be a prison and by the same or a subsequent order specify the area for which the prison is established.”

    One other worrisome challenge in the prison is the abuse of drugs and other unwholesome substances by the prisoners. It is common knowledge that the prison’s officials trade in such privileges, which in turn exposes the prisoners to ill-health. Even the jailbreaks are buoyed by the use of drugs, even though I will not discountenance desperation by prisoners who serve under excruciating and inhuman conditions. Perhaps the government should commission a sociological study on the contribution of inhuman prisons to our inefficient criminal justice system.

    In the meantime, a government that is fighting corruption and hoping to goal the corrupt should also expend resources to build real correction-centres, which is what a prison ought to be. Otherwise, if they send corrupt persons to prisons and harvest hardened criminal at the end, then they have solved one problem and created another. Also, our governments should enforce punishment for those who offend section 14(1) of the prison act dealing with the offence of giving or taking from a prisoner: “any alcoholic liquor, tobacco, intoxicating or poisonous drug or article prohibited by regulation made under this Act.”

     

  • Abakaliki Prisons solicits support for inmates

    A university undergraduate and winner of Glo Campus Storm, Mr Gabriel Ajah has called on members of the public to helping prison inmates.

    He made the appeal in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, when he paid a visit to inmates of the Abakaliki Prison.

    Speaking to The Nation, Mr Ajah said he was in the prisons to enlighten the inmates on the need to have positive mindset and be useful to the society after their stay in the prisons.

    He used the occasion to donate drugs, blankets, motivational books, exercise books and other items to the inmates.

    Mr Ajah, student of Ebonyi State University, noted that the money for the items was from the prize money he won during a recent edition of the Global campus stor.

    He urged members of the public to always remember the prisons inmates who he noted are really in a precarious condition.

    According to him, ‘their is live after the prison sentence and that is what we want the inmates to note, being a convict or ex-convict does not mean it is the end of the world, it starts with having a positive mind set and building yourself up with a determination to become a better person’.

    High point of the event was a talk to the inmates by a lecturer in EBSU Amiara Solomon Amiara on being responsible citizens during and after their stay in the society.

    Meanwhile, the Nigeria Prison Service, Ebonyi state comand have solicited assistance from members of the public for the inmates.

    The NPS noted that the inmates depend on the society to survive.

    Deputy Comptroller of the Prisons, Maduaku Emmanuel stated this when a Glo campus Ambassador, Gabriel Ajah visited the prisons.

    He called on government, NGOs and public spirited individuals to impact positively on the inmates by visiting and sharing with them whatever they have.

  • Senate moves to break FG’s monopoly on Prisons management

    Senate moves to break FG’s monopoly on Prisons management

    …Tinubu seeks establishment of Mother-baby care unit
    Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Wednesday said that the Senate Constitution review committee planned to remove Prisons from the Exclusive List and put it in the Concurrent List.

    He said that the removal of Prisons from the Exclusive List was meant to break the monopoly of the Federal Government over the management of prisons in the country.

    Ekweremadu spoke during the second reading of three bills which sought an Act to repeal and re-enact the Prison Act CAP p29 LFN 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2016.

    The three Bill were sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinnbu (Lagos Central), Senator Shaba Lafiagi (Kwara North) and Senator Babajide Omoworare (Osun East).

    The Senate plan to consolidate the bills to form one bill due to their similarity.

    Ekweremadu who presided, noted that apart from removing Prisons from the Exclusive List, there might be need to involve other stakeholders in the management of prisons in the country.

    Tinubu in her lead debate said that it is disheartening to sight infants living with their mothers in the prisons where movement is restricted, freedom restrained and liberty impeded.

    She noted that it is a common knowledge that the phenomenon has the potential of impeding all round growth of the infant and may cause retardation.

    She explained that the desire to correct the anomaly formed the basis for the suggested amendment.

    Tinubu added, “The incidences of women going to serve jail term while they are pregnant or nursing infants is known to many nations of the world, but while some nations have found solutions to the problem by way of legislation, Nigeria has left these matters to chance and the magnanimity of individuals and charities.

    “My colleagues in the seventh Assembly would recall that the plight of infants in prisons gave cause for concern which prompted the members of the Women Affairs Committee of the Senate to embark on an oversight visit to Suleja Prisons in 2013 where members expressed their concern and pledged assistance.

    “This Bill attempts to provide solution by ensuring that Prison Authorities provide special accommodation to meet prenatal and postnatal needs of pregnant inmates, designate structures as nursery to be staffed by qualified persons where the infants shall be placed when they are not in the care of their mothers, and also fight against stigmatisation of babies born in prison by providing that the circumstances of their birth shall not be included in their birth certificate.

    “Statistics given by Prison authorities as at March 2013 showed that there were 69 infants living with their mothers in Nigerian Prisons across the Federation. Though the number may fluctuate, the fact remains there is need to make special provision for these categories of prisoners.

    “While some of the solutions proffered such as providing separate accommodation for pregnant women, nursing mothers, breastfeeding sections and nursery/creche facilities in prisons may have cost implications, it is all achievable. l am calling for a replicate of the provisions made by the maximum prisons at Kirikiri Lagos to enable us meet with the minimum world best practices as stipulated in many international conventions and treaties.

    “The 88 mixed gender prisons in the country have facilities that can be converted to accommodate the provisions of this Bill. The financial implications of the proposed conversion are attached.

    “Keeping such a designated hall, room or cell clean and hygienic does not cost a fortune, while purchase of infant beddings, mosquitoes nets are equally within reach with many donor agencies. NGOs and public spirited Nigerians donating to such institutions periodically.

    “Another innovation which this bill proposes is the enlargement/expansion of the definition of ‘infant‘ as contained in the Act to cover children between ages 0 to 3 years and thus allow them stay with their mothers beyond 18 months which the extant Act currently allows. This is because Psychiatric research has shown that the first 3 years of a child’s life is important for mother-child bonding. The mother is the primary giver of love and care in a young child’s life and this can mitigate the effect of any emotional damage in life, promote sense of security and healthy self-esteem.

    “l urge you, my Distinguished Colleagues, to see this Bill in light of catering for young Nigerians who are unable to dictate the circumstances of their birth and who, it well taken care of today may be great leaders of their own generation. By supporting this bill you will be lending your voice to the entrenchment of the rights of the Nigerian child.”

  • State of prisons and awaiting trial inmates

    The huge number of prisoners and detainees in our prisons is mind boggling.  These guests in our prisons are in various categories.

    First, there are awaiting trial inmates. Secondly, there are those involved in protracted trial process and are denied bail. Thirdly, there are those standing trial for various offences who are granted bail but unable to fulfil the bail conditions.

    Fourthly, there are those convicted and serving various prison terms, fifthly, there are those condemned to death and have been waiting for the hang man for years. Yet, there are other categories of detainees in prisons for offences of clearly civil nature, which offences are wrongly criminalised either by sheer witch-hunt or lack of sufficient education of the limits of responsibilities by law enforcement agents.

    The foregoing and some other factors may have led to the congestion of our prisons with fatal consequences.

    One major challenge of prison congestion is overcrowding of the environment within the prisons, making categorisation of inmates’ herculean for the authorities in charge of prisons.

    The consequence is that hardened criminalsare lump together with first timers thereby making reformation a difficult exercise.

    Secondly, prison over population may have been one of the reasons for frequent jail breaks – a phenomenon leading to security breaches and upsurge in criminalities in our society.

    There are also other challenges arising from overcrowding of our prisons, including poor quality of food, inadequate ventilation and hygiene, factors exposing inmates to diseases of various categories.

    The above may have exposed other realities, including the inadequacy of facilities, insufficient prisons to accommodate the increasing number of detainees and ill-equipped and substandard facilities and infrastructure.

    What is the way out of Prison

    congestions?

    First, the solution is an all-inclusive stakeholders responsibilities involving efforts of the Police, Courts, Federal and state Ministries of Justice, complainants and lawyers – all of whom must rise to the challenge by deploying increased professional commitment and, most importantly, a change of attitude and mindset to make the system work free of sabotage. This realisation is based on the fact that prison congestion is a stakeholder’s problem with challenges for the Justice sector and the society generally. This is also informed by the legal, attitudinal and policy implications of prison congestions

    Secondly, prison congestions may be addressed by the faithful implementation of the provisions of the Administrative of the Criminal Justice Act 2015 – The purpose of the Act is: “to ensure that the sy tem of administration of criminal justice in Nigeria promotes efficient management of criminal justice institutions, speedy dispensation of justice, protection of the society from crime and protection of the rights and interests of the suspect, the defendant, and the victim.”

    The Act will ensure that prisons are decongested if the objectives spelt out above are fully realised.  One advantage of the Act relates to trial proceedings from day to day and zero tolerance for necessary adjournments by parties to criminal proceedings.

     

    To be continued

  • Prisons boss under fire for alleged torture of OPC chief in Ekiti

    The immediate past Comptroller of Prisons in Ekiti State, Attahiru Mustapha, is under fire for alleged torture meted out to the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) leader, Adeniyi Adedipe, in custody.

    Adedipe’s lawyer Jamiu Tijani said yesterday that his client was tortured, dehumanised, stripped naked and beaten by armed prison guards under alleged supervision of Mustapha at about 10am on Wednesday.

    Sources at the Ekiti State Command of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) revealed that Mustapha has been transferred to Taraba State, where he will resume office today.

    Tijani called on the NPS National Headquarters, Nigeria Police Headquarters, Department of State Services (DSS) and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to launch an investigation into the incident.

    He insisted that his client, who has been of good behaviour since his detention in prison custody,  committed no offence to warrant the brutality visited on him in prison custody.

    Adedipe, popularly known as Apase, is on trial alongside seven other persons in connection with the murder of the former state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Omolafe Aderiye, on September 25, 2014, a charge which they all denied.

    According to Tijani, he visited the Ado-Ekiti prison facility on Friday for consultation with his client following the brutality under the alleged supervision of Mustapha, wondering why Adedipe was singled out for such treatment.

  • Imo judiciary, police and detainees in Owerri prisons

    SIR, The judiciary is supposed to be the last hope of the common man. The judiciary through its platforms (that is, the courts) provides the opportunity for the oppressed to express himself or herself. The oppressed common man gets justice through the courts. The oppressed common man secures his freedom through the courts. But most unfortunately in Imo State, it is not so. The oppressed common man is denied justice.

    Since Justice Paschal Nnadi became the Chief Judge of Imo State, the judiciary has gone on strike on three consecutive times. The first strike lasted for almost three months; the second for over two months. The third strike has entered its second month, and there is no sign that it would be called off. The law courts have been under lock and key, which has directly affected the fate of innocent prison inmates awaiting trials in Imo State. Honestly, this judicial imbroglio signifies incompetence in the hands of the current leadership of the judiciary.

    The Owerri Federal Prisons originally has the capacity for about 800 inmates, but today there are about 2400 inmates. Despite the fact that the courts in Imo State are not open, special courts sessions are held where suspects from the Imo State Police Command are brought or arraigned, and finally remanded at the over-congested Owerri Federal Prisons. This happened just few days ago.  Through this conspiracy, the population of inmates at the Owerri Prisons has continued to increase, to the detriment of both the prison officials and the inmates.

    Even when the courts are in session; corruption, long adjournments, absenteeism and perhaps deliberate manipulation of judicial process have been adopted to suffocate and indeed frustrate the desired freedom of these innocent awaiting trial inmates at the Owerri Prisons. The resultant effect is that these innocent inmates remain in prison custody for a long time.

    The Imo State Police Command and its very corrupt officers are part of this conspiracy against innocent inmates.

    The questions now are; if special courts are used to remand people in prison custody, even when the courts are not open, why can’t special courts be used to grant inmates with bailable offences bail? Why can’t special courts be used to discharge and acquit innocent inmates?

    At this point, it is expedient to let Governor Rochas Okorocha know that he cannot stand aloof and allow innocent inmates at Owerri Federal Prisons to continue to suffer in the hands of the moribund Imo State judiciary. He must step into the matter by ensuring that the judiciary calls off its strike.

    • Dr. Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha,

    Owerri – Imo, Nigeria

  • Re: Ranches or prisons for herdsmen

    SIR: Nigeria is a land of absurdities – abundant crude oil yet scarcity of petrol, large expanse of waters yet no potable water, quantum of gas, yet none to power electricity, countless churches and mosques yet increasing crimes.

    How else can one explain a situation where people violently take over farmlands to feed their own cattle at other people’s expense and in the process kill the innocent farmers, rape their wives or kidnap farmers with brazen impunity.

    Absurdly enough, the secretary general of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association (GAFDAN) one Sale Bayari in The Nation Wednesday April 27, saw all the actuality reports by local and foreign media on the rampaging by Fulani herdsmen as mere propaganda.

    Reports of herdsmen kidnappers of Chief Olu Falae who confessed and reports of killed and burnt victims are also propaganda.

    Bayari also sees the right of free movement as right to trespass and poach other peoples’ properties with impunity. He is also oblivious of the land use act provisions.

    His defence smacks of some illogicalities. The rangers, cowboys in America he refers to do not violate the rights of other farmland owners by feeding their cattle on other peoples farms. Perhaps it would interest Bayari to know that there are ranches in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

    It is just economically wiser for the money bag owners of cattle to purchase some exotic breed which will multiply with time and give them better earnings in meat, fat, hides and skin, dry bones and animal waste for manure. Most importantly it will expose the illiterate crude handlers to a settled civilized life, livestock technology, and education of their children.

    It is unprogressive to stick to cultural or traditional ways of life without some moderation.

    Creating ranches will tame the animals and their crude and blood-thirsty handlers.

    For instance if the poultry farmers had stuck to keeping local breed perpetually, they would not have discovered better option in the imported broilers. The cattle keepers can move out of their traditional model and move with modernization in livestock trading instead of depending on other peoples farms to feed their cattle free of charge. Even if the government establishes grazing zone, it must not be free because the state cannot behave like Father Christmas.

    If this trend is not checked the agro diversification programme of President Muhammadu Buhari government will be endangered as large farmlands will be plundered.

    It is a pity that in the defence of the Fulani, the spokesman did not even sympathize with victims of Fulani plunderers meaning that cattle is more precious  than human lives.

    Another issue in the whole scenario is the neglect of intelligence report of the planned invasion by the herdsmen by the relevant authorities. It is pure show of official irresponsibility and people involved deserve punishment.

    The Enugu State governor shedding crocodile tears is just a political weeping. President Buhari should arrest the situation before it grows to another Boko Haram scourge.

     

    • Julius Kayode,

    Isolo, Lagos.

  • Detainees flee as Prisons’ bus collides with truck

    There was panic yesterday in Badagry, Lagos, following the escape of some prison inmates being conveyed to court.

    The awaiting trial inmates were said to have escaped when their Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) bus rammed into a stationary truck at Beyuf Busstop on Badagry Expressway around 7am.

    They reportedly fled as prison officers were trying to put the situation under control.

    Several persons were injured in the accident.

    The Nation gathered that efforts were on to catch the escaped inmates, some of who were injured.

    A Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) official said the headlamps of the NPS bus were not bright, adding that the driver did not see the stationary vehicle in time.

    He said the occupants were trapped inside the bus for hours.

    “It rammed into the back of the truck headlong. Those inside the bus were trapped for sometime before one of the officials opened the door to allow rescuers carry out emergency work. Amidst the confusion, some of the prisoners escaped. The injured were taken to the hospital,” he said.

    NPS official told our correspondent that a manhunt has begun for the escapees.

  •  Disquiet in prisons over shortfall in ration budget

    There is disquiet in the  Nigeria Prisons Service following an alleged shortfall in the cost for feeding and catering materials for 2016 in this year’s  budget estimate.

    Officials of the Ministry of Interior, the Nigeria Prisons Service and ration contractors are said to have expressed concern about the issue.

    A member of the Senate Committee on Interior said steps should be taken to correct the situation.

    It was learnt that if the anomaly is not corrected, prison ration contractors may default in the feeding of over 65,000 inmates spread across 240 prisons in the country.

    The senator noted that a shortfall in the feeding allowance for inmates is undesirable considering the nation’s chaotic prison environment.

    Minister of Interior Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau is said to have raised a team to discuss with officials of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Planning to correct the anomaly.

    A top official of the Prison Contractors Association of Nigeria (PCAN), who confirmed the meeting with Lt. Gen. Dambazzau, hailed the minister’s efforts in averting a crisis in the nation’s prisons.

    A source said the minister was informed about the ‘inadequate funding’ of the “Feeding and Catering Service Subhead in the 2016 Budget and the implications on the morbidity of the inmates as well as the security of the prisons”.

    It was learnt that of the N16 billion proposed by the Federal Ministry of Interior to cover the arrears for 2015 and cost for feeding and catering materials for 2016, N5.26 billion was captured, leaving a shortfall of N11.25 billion.

    The minister was said to have intervened to avert a problem as was the case in 1988, 1989 and 1995 when some inmates were said to have died following ‘frank starvation’.

    The senator said: “The situation in our prisons is bad enough. What do you make of the congestion, inadequate health care, shoddy accommodation and an environment that is almost non-conducive for rehabilitation or human habitation?

    ‘’To add food crisis to this ugly situation will be most devastating. It should be avoided. History should not repeat itself. This is the minister’s mindset.”

    The lawmaker noted that the minister believed that correcting the budgetary anomaly will boost President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption posture by strengthening the integrity of the procurement process.

    He said: “If there is inadequate funding of the feeding of inmates, it is a recipe for perversion of the procurement process. Corrupt practices will be entrenched in the system and a robust monitoring mechanism will be difficult to create and sustain. There will be excuses for food contractors not to supply the required ration.

    “They will pervert and compromise the system when they are owed and under-paid. It exposes the system to corruption”, he said.

    The senator promised that committee will also take up the matter with relevant government ministries.