Reps Want Tinubu To Constitute Judicial Panel On Attacks On Correctional Centres

ABUJA – The House of Representatives on Thursday, June 6, asked President Bola Tinubu to immediately set up a judicial panel of inquiry on prison attacks in the country and put in place measures to ensure that such assaults on the entire security apparatus of Nigeria do not reoccur.

Adopting a motion brought by Hon. Kabiru Alhassan Usman Rurum (NNPP, Kano), the House asked its Committees on Interior and Reformatory Institutions to interface with the relevant government agencies to constitute threat management in correctional centres across the country and collate data of inmates by enrolling them in the National Identity Number system.

He condemned incessant attacks on custodial facilities of the Nigerian Correctional Service and frequent escape of inmates convicted and awaiting trial have become dangerous trends as they portend grave danger to society and have become an embarrassment to the country’s security architecture.

He said the recent rainstorm incident in Niger State which resulted in the escape of one hundred and eighteen (118) inmates has again brought attention to the worrisome state of the nation’s correctional centres security architecture and the looming danger ahead.

The Kano lawmaker said that from September 2015 to July 2023, there have been reported cases of about seventeen jailbreaks across Nigeria, resulting in over 7,000 escapees.

He alleged that prison officials are not properly trained to be infantry and confrontational, making it difficult to repel such attacks, hence the need to put in place upgraded prison facilities with better security armed guards, walls, perimeter fences, and solid gates, and the installation of modern equipment to easily detect security breaches and curb further attacks.

He said the grave implication of the jailbreak is the fact that the criminals have returned to society and their refusal to go back to prison indicates that they will continue to perpetrate more atrocities, leading to further breakdown of security across the country.

He said prison break constitutes a threat to national security, adding that stringent actions must be taken to avoid further incidents.