The Federal Government of Nigeria is considering the relocation of inmates from the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre after 119 of them escaped following the destruction of a part of the facility by a storm late Wednesday.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this when he visited the custodial centre to carry out an on-the-spot assessment on Thursday to ascertain the extent of damage done to the facility following Wednesday’s storm.
He stressed the need to relocate a lot of the custodial centres to conducive environments, adding: “This facility was built in 1914 to house 250 inmates but before this incident, we had 499.”
“This is a testimony of what we keep talking about – overcrowding of our correctional homes. You can look at the environment, it shows that we need to relocate them away from city centres to create better space, better security and better infrastructure,” he said.
Speaking to journalists at the custodial centre, the Minister said 10 of the 119 inmates who escaped have been returned to the facility.
“We have been able to get back 10 out of the 119, we have 109 still at large. There is a manhunt presently ongoing. We will do everything humanly possible to ensure every one of them is brought back,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo stated that measures were being put in place to restore sanity.
He assured Nigerians that his Ministry was already working behind the scene to fashion out a correctional system that will work for the benefit of Nigerians.
He expressed optimism that such an incident would not happen again in any other facility.
“This could have been avoided if the right information was disseminated at that appropriate time, on the structure.
“We will get them back and we will ensure this doesn’t happen again anywhere in the country,” he assured.
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