Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) Mr. Peter Ezenwa revealed recently that N222.30k is budgeted by the service to feed each inmate in a Nigerian prison per day. Ezenwa stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Interior to defend the Prison Service’s 2016 budget. He also warned of a possible revolt if things continue this way. According to Ezenwa, the Service made a proposal of N10.6 billion for the feeding allowance of 65,000 inmates but that the Federal Government slashed it to N5.2 billion.
Anyone who knows the cost of food products in Nigeria would readily agree that to feed a person on N222 a day is a starvation diet. Things got even worse a few days after when the Senate declared that the actual amount used to feed an inmate per day is N130. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior Senator Usman Bayero Nafada revealed this when Minister of Interior Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau appeared before the committee to defend his ministry’s 2016 budget proposals. Nafada said, “N200 per inmate per day is unacceptable. If you look at it, you are actually feeding each inmate with N130 per day. When you remove Value Added Tax, contractors’ profit and other corporate services the N200 comes to about N130 to feed one inmate in a day. It is inhuman to feed a human being with N130 per day. What can anybody use N130 to buy? With N130 no inmate can come out of the prison better.”
That is one very valid point raised by Nafada. Even though people are sent to prisons because they committed one offence or another, the punishment consists mainly in the deprivation of rights and freedom of movement. It does not mean they should be deprived of food, water or other basic needs for their survival. As human beings they deserve to be taken care of while in incarceration. They are not sent there to die of starvation. They are also expected to learn their lessons, to get reformed and to become better citizens when they leave the prison. None of these will happen if the serve their terms on a starvation ration. We therefore concur with the Senators’ position on the need to immediately approve an upward review of feeding allowance for prison inmates. There are indications that the Federal Government is considering increasing the feeding allowance of inmates to N450 per day. Senator Nafada said although N450 is still not enough, it is a good beginning.
Another problem associated with prisoners’ feeding is the corruption which is endemic in the prison system. Paltry though this feeding allowance is, a good part of it gets pilfered by officials, contractors and even prisoners’ self appointed leaders in the cells. The fear is real that even if the feeding allowance is increased, there might not be a commensurate increase in the quantity and quality of food served to the inmates. Our officials pilfer money meant for the feeding of students and youth corpers, not to mention prisoners who are locked up and can hardly make their protests heard, except through rioting and jail break.
We therefore urge the authorities to act quickly and end the misery of prisoners as well as persons awaiting trial who have been living on this starvation diet for so long. We also urge the Senate and House of Representatives’ committees on interior to improve their oversight of the prisons by making regular visits to ensure that the inmates get a better deal with an enhanced daily feeding allowance. The same applies to other welfare needs such as medical attention and bed space when, as everyone knows, Nigerian prisons hold many more detainees than they were built for. The whole idea is to make our prisons to serve as reformation centres and not to transform minor offenders into hardened criminals.
