It is for national interest that I write to convey the pains of the subordinate staff of the Nigerian Correctional Service on their behalf.
Sir, let me start by stating that of all the security agencies in Nigeria; the staff of the paramilitary agencies under the Ministry of Interior are the poorest paid. This is to the extent that a Senior Inspector of the Nigeria Police earns higher than a Superintendent rank officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service and other agencies in the Ministry of Interior. In these poor conditions of service, the management of the Nigerian Correctional Service has unrepentantly continued to make life miserable for their subordinate staff.
Sir, when news broke that the Service Chiefs had been relieved of their duties, the exclusion of the Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service was not good news for their staff.
Many were of the view that at least, this would mark the beginning of the long-required reforms the Service direly needs. They still hold the view that it is not late to start this reform process in the Nigerian Correctional Service.
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The poor supervision and monitoring of the activities of the management staff of this Service has given them power to abuse the privileged positions they hold at the detriment of national security and their subordinate staff.
Sir, in the handover documents, you will also be informed that this Service suffered its worst causalities during the last eight years with the rate of escape and attacks on custodial centres across the country and staff of the Service. These were caused courtesy of poor management, poor supervision and negligence by successive presidents.
Sir, it will be of national interest if the activities of the management staff of the Service and the Ministry of Interior in the last eight years are probed by your administration in record time to unravel the ills committed and suffered by the nation and staff as explained below.
Sir, as a result of the change of name from the Nigerian Prisons Service to the Nigerian Correctional Service by virtue of the 2019 Act, the uniforms of the Service were changed. After years of foot-dragging, the management has failed to give every staff these new uniforms. They managed to stop at the Superintendent rank without the accompanying accoutrements. The Deputy Superintendent Officers down to the last rank of the Service were neither given the new uniforms nor the accoutrements.
Secondly, since the harmonisation of ranks in the Service, the number of junior staff has drastically reduced. This is in addition to the general shortage of staff in custodial centres which places like Lagos State Command are suffering.
The number of staff who retire and resign from the Service is also adding to the menace of shortage of staff. Rather than recruit more hands, the few available staff are overused. Lagos State Command, for instance, has almost 10,000 inmates locked up in its various custodial centres with a few over 600 staff in the whole Command.
Similar experience is shared in Ogun and Rivers State Commands. Staff resume work at 7am and stay till seven, eight or even 10pm or beyond for morning duty and 7pm to 7am for night duty everyday including Saturdays and Sundays. Many staff have not gone for annual leave in the last ten years.
Also, the housing provision for the staff of this Service is poor and grossly inadequate. Sir, kindly send a team to visit these barracks or better still, pay a scheduled visit to these places. These barracks do not house one third of the staff of the Service and they are in sorry states.
The transportation of inmates to and from courts is another disheartening story. The vehicles at the disposal of custodial centres are grossly inadequate and old, whereas, the national headquarters with no single inmate is packed with various vehicles. There are no staff buses or vehicles for staff on court duties. Staff and inmates cramp themselves in these old buses to and from courts.
With all these unpleasant experiences, one would be forced to ask if the Nigerian Correctional Service is part of the national security architecture.
The next Minister of Interior and the President must show interests in the activities of the management staff of the Nigerian Correctional Service. Just because their activities are largely behind the walls, these people abuse their offices.
Sir, the exclusion of the heads of paramilitary agencies in national security meetings is not a good idea. The Minister of Interior is a political appointee who should not stand in for the heads of these agencies in security meetings with the president and other national security engagements.
They should be included and allowed to contribute to security matters. The President should get briefings directly from the heads of paramilitary agencies. The president should listen to their challenges and address them. These will keep them up and doing, responsive and responsible.
Sir, going forward, a civilian should not be appointed as the Minister of Interior. The experience of this Ministry and her agencies in the last eight years posed greatest threats to the nation’s national security. This ministry must be headed by either a deserving retired senior officer from the rank of a Controller/Comptroller of any of the paramilitary agencies under it or a deserving retired Major General or its equivalent in the Armed Forces. This will help in putting a round peg in a round hole. This will in the long run promote efficiency.
The curricula of the Service must also be seriously and intentionally reviewed with up-to-date subjects in correctional service globally. Staff must be trained and retrained from time to time in line with modern correctional practices. Training facilities must be provided with modern equipment. Facilitators and directing staff must be specially trained for this purpose. This will go a long way in boosting the confidence and efficiency of staff within and outside the custodial centres beyond in the locking of erring staff in the yard.
Staff recruitment must be open and based on merit. The idea of recruiting largely the children, wives and relatives of staff and their friends who could barely read, write and/or communicate intelligibly affects the efficiency of the staff of the Service.
The best among the various professionals should be encouraged to join the Service if it must effectively perform her constitutional responsibilities and stand shoulder to shoulder among its peers across the globe.
A Correctional Academy must also be established to train secondary school leavers on the rudiments of the Correctional Service and national security for commissioning into the Nigerian Correctional Service. This will go a long way in encouraging the transfer of Nigerians serving jail terms overseas back to their home country as the system back home will be trusted and well equipped, to ensure that the purposes of imprisonment are not only met but reformation and rehabilitation take place before their (inmates) reintegration into the society.
The various directorates and units of the Service must be allowed to function independently but orderly.
Alani wrote via [email protected]
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