Assistant Controller General of Prisons in charge of Zone E, Mr Jide Joseph Olorunmola, says there has been remarkable improvement in the Nigeria Prisons Service, and that the present leadership is working hard towards decongestion.
Olorunmola, who was on a familiarization/inspection tour to the Cross River State Command, and conducted round by the State Controller of Prisons, Imaikop Ndaekong said, said the situation today is much better than it was in the past.
He said, โWhen you talk of improvement, you look at the past and look at the current situation and then forecast for the future. The structures were dilapidated. There was shortage of drugs. There was lack of vehicles to convey prisoners to courts. That was the situation before the current administration under the leadership of Controller General of Prisons, Alhaji Jaโafaru Ahmed. Since he came there has been massive reconstruction and renovation of structures and infrastructure being provided. Drugs, duty vehicles, staff cars have also been provided. Those things were not in place before and so there is a big improvement going on.
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โOf course when you talk of prison congestion, you can see the efforts of the Federal Government. There is a presidential committee on decongestion that has been going on. In Kano a 3, 000 capacity prison has been put in place and the CGP and Minister have repeated very often that the goal now is to put in place a 3, 000 capacity prison in every geopolitical zone of the country.
โWith all the operational vehicles that have been purchased and distributed all over the prison formations across the country to convey prisoners to court, you will agree with me that is a fine effort aimed at decongesting prisons. Because if inmates do not attend court regularly, if they miss their courts, that may add to our problem of congestion. In the area of drugs, they are regularly being supplied to prisons for inmates use. Even staff welfare has been improved upon and this goes a way to improve the system.โ
Cross River State Controller of Prisons, Imaikop Ndaekong, who conducted him round the Command said the Stateโs Prisons consists of five convict prisons and one farm centre with 960 inmates population made up of 944 males and 16 females.
โThe present leadership of Nigeria Prisons Service under Controller General of Prisons Jaafaru Ahmed in which you are a management member, has put smiles on the faces of every of Prison Officer and Cross River State Command is conspicuously part of this web of change in the Service.
โPermit me sir to inform you that the Command had benefitted enormously in the distribution of beddings, operational vehicles, agricultural machineries and implements, drugs, medics and uniform for staff and inmates,โ Ndaekong said.
