FG commences construction of 3,000-capacity custodial centre in Abuja

The Federal Government of Nigeria has commenced the construction of a 3,000-capacity Maximum Security Custodial Centre in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The project, located at Karshi in Abuja, is the second of such by the government.

While speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of the project in Karshi on Thursday, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola said the vision of the government is to turn custodial centres into enterprise centres.

He said the project is in continuation of the implementation of Nigerian Correctional Service reform which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in May 2017.

The minister said the project, when completed, will address the deplorable state of structures in the various Custodial Centres “most of which were old, over-stretched, dilapidated and overcrowded, and largely lacking humane conditions and platform for reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.”

FCT has three custodial centres in Kuje, Dukpa and Suleja with 960 inmates capacity but have almost double of that figures presently.

There are about 250 custodial centres across the country with over 74,000 inmates in custody, just as Aregbesola said they are grossly inadequate.

“One major concern about our correctional institution is inadequate housing for inmates. Therefore, as part of the strategies to improving the conditions of inmates and the general state of the Custodial Centres, construction of Maximum Security Custodial Centres in each of the six Geo-Political Zones of the country was conceptualized.

“It is Government’s desire that when this project is completed, it would not only help in containing overcrowding but also facilitate access to justice as well as reformation and rehabilitation of inmates within the Federal Capital Territory and its environs,” he said.

Speaking about the design of the project, the Controller-General of Corrections, Ja’afaru Ahmed, said it includes a maximum security custodial centre – for long and high risk inmates – and a medium security custodial centre – for medium term and minor offenders.

He also said there would be two court rooms for a High Court and a Magistrate Court for easy dispensation of cases; standard workshops/vocational centres; classrooms, hospital, place of worship for both Christians and Muslims, recreational centres, shopping centre, guest house, club house and a host of other structures.

He said the infrastructure will provide better platforms for the implementation of the provisions of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019.