The Nigeria Correctional Service has stepped up efforts to track down and recapture escaped inmates of the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre, Niger State.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Thursday, said the government would relocate a lot of correctional centres to create better infrastructure and security.
Tunji-Ojo made the pledge when he visited the Niger custodial centre, where 119 inmates had escaped following a rainstorm that damaged the facility on Wednesday.
This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Ozoya Imohimi.
The minister said it was imperative to relocate a lot of the correctional centres to a conducive environment.
“This facility was built in 1914 to house 250 inmates. Before this incident, we had 499.
“This is what we keep talking about— the overcrowding of our correctional centres.
“You can look at the environment; it shows that we need to relocate them away from the city centre before creating better space, security and infrastructure,” he added.
According to Tunji-Ojo, the ministry was already working behind the scenes to fashion out a correctional system that would work for all.
The minister assured that such an incident would not happen again in any other facility across the country.
The spokesman for the Federal Capital Territory command of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Samson Duza, said 119 inmates initially escaped, but 14 of them were later recaptured by the security forces.
