The Comptroller General, Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Peter Ekpendu, has revealed that most prison formations across the country were built by the colonial master which made up of mud walls.
Loading ...He also said that the service has lost about 45 officers including a retired Comptroller General to Boko Haram insurgency while more than 200 his men injured.
Ekpendu’s lamentation came to fore on Tuesday in Abuja when the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazau visited the headquarters of the Prison to familiarise himself with the service.
While appealing to the federal government to construct modern prisons in all the six geo-political zones so as to address some of the challenges, he expressed worry that about congestion in the prisons across the country which he said was occasioned by the inability of the judiciary to dispense justice to awaiting trials inmates.
“Most of the Nigerian prisons as at today were built by colonial masters made up of mud walls, for examples, the one in Kastina, Kano prison and others.
“We lack vehicles that would convey prisoners to court. We also need ambulance and proper fuelling for the vehicles. A situation where five thousand naira was approved for fuelling a vehicle in a month could not serve the purpose of the prison”.
Responding, the Minister of Interior, Dambazau, said some of the challenges confronting the service were as old as the service, adding that some of them were chanllenges that supposed not to be if some people have been doing their jobs.
“On my part as a minister of interior I will do all I can to see how we can improve on this conditions. Also in your part we need to change our altitude to work.
On prison congestion, the minister said it worries him much, saying “I think we need to look at the issue and come up with solution, more so, the prison and the court has to work together to solve that problem” .
