By Abuja, Nigeria – The Nigerian federal government has instructed the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to evacuate inmates from its Abeokuta facility within four weeks due to poor sanitary conditions. Dr. Magdalene Ajani, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, described the facility’s conditions as “horrible” during a public hearing in Abuja and emphasised the need for urgent intervention.
Additionally, Dr. Ajani, who chairs the panel, demanded a comprehensive status report on juvenile custodial centres nationwide within two weeks. She expressed concerns over the illegal detention of minors, the mixing of juveniles with adult inmates, and overall poor inmate welfare. She stated, “You are going to send to the ministry the status report of all the borstal centres that have been completed or not, requisited or not.”
She added, “We need to be serious about what we are doing. When we visited about 28 states’ custodial centres, we found that you don’t lump underage individuals with adults.” She specifically highlighted issues at the Ilorin facility, which is reportedly misclassifying adults as juveniles. Dr. Ajani ordered the immediate removal of all adults not intended to be housed in such facilities.
Also speaking, the panel’s Secretary, Uju Agomoh, highlighted the wide scope of the panel’s mandate, which includes the investigation of corruption, torture, cruel and degrading treatment of inmates, and systemic lapses within correctional institutions. Agomoh stated, “The panel will be poised to provide a report that will help Nigeria achieve the kind of Nigerian Correctional Service we want to become.”
