Deplorable Correctional Centres: Reps probe Aregbesola, Nababa over N165bn prison budget
…Expert suggests mechanism to checkmate corruption in Nigeria’s security agencies
Abimbola Abatta and Ariemu Ogaga
The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, disclosed its resolution to probe the utilisation of the N165 billion two years budget of the Nigeria Correctional Services (NCS) headed by Haliru Nababa within the last two years under the supervision of the Minister of Interior Ogbeni Aregbesola.
Following the unanimous adoption of the motion titled: ‘Urgent need to investigate the deplorable state of inmates and the unwholesome working conditions of officers and men of the Nigeria Correctional Service despite huge budgetary allocations with attendant adverse effects on security of custodial facilities and the new mandate of the service,’ during plenary session, the lawmakers passed the resolution.
The House, after adopting the motion which was put to a voice vote by Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, explained that it would address the deteriorating condition of custodial facilities in the nation.
Consequently, the House mandated its Committee on Reformatory Institutions to investigate the alleged infraction and turn in its report within twelve weeks for further legislative action.
The motion was sponsored by minority leader of the house, Ndudi Elumelu, who bemoaned the poor quality of the service at the correctional facilities.
He maintained that the working conditions of staff and inmates’ welfare have deteriorated in spite of the over N165 billion budget allocations to the service.
According to Elumelu, “the staff still buy or make their uniforms to date, regardless of the huge budget allocations provided for this purpose. Provision of uniform for inmates is non-existent in most custodial centres.
“Upon the enactment of the NSC Act 2019, Nigeria joined most countries of the world in adopting modern correctional alternatives to incarceration or imprisonment including non-custodial measures.
“The extant Act situates the workforce of the service as the single most important resource available to the correctional system and thus prioritised the welfare of these officers and men in line with international best practices to propel them to optimal performance.
“Despite this Act and increase in budgetary allocations to the NCS to drive its renewed mandate, the tempo and quality of the service have remained the same, if not retrogressing,” he said.
He added that, “The arms squad unit of the service still parades obsolete and substandard weapons despite over N1 billion budget provision for prison biometrics, arms and ammunition in the 2020/2021 capital budget, thus, impeding its ability to deter, prevent or respond effectively to both internal and external threats.
“The house is aware of deaths of correctional officers and men across the country following attacks either on escort vehicles or custodial facilities;
“In addition to allegations of non-utilisation of budget allocations in the manner prescribed by the national assembly and administrative incompetence of drivers of change in the rebranded service, there are also claims of unscrupulous staff promotion, denial of rights and benefits, including hazard and duty tour allowances levelled against the management of the service.”
Reacting to the development, a security expert and the Chief Executive Officer, Beacon Security Consult, Dr. Kabiru Adamu, advised that the National Assembly should introduce monitoring, evaluation mechanism to checkmate corruption in Nigeria’s security agencies.
According to him, “Now this re-emphasises the point made by Transparency International(TI) in its last report that the Nigeria security has not been improvement in the anti-corruption drive by the current government. Now the National Assembly has that responsibility too not only the executive arm of government.
“In fact all of this agencies including the correction service and the Ministry of Interior are all the executive arm of government.
“Now instead of invitation and public statement like this, we are of the view that the National assembly should look at introducing monitoring and evaluation measures, mechanism as well as audit roles within the various security agencies, also matrix that can measure performance, so that this linkages that are clearly obvious can be minimised and managed.
“Hearings and questions like this cannot go anywhere, in fact all it will do will be to serve the interest of few corrupt individuals who will use to continue to exploit the accused persons.
“We need to see more far-reaching strategic measures to tackling issues like this,” he added.
