Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Minister of Interior, has announced that the Nigerian Government has begun auditing prison inmates across the 256 Custodial Centres nationwide. This initiative aims to ease overcrowding in these facilities.
In a statement released on Friday by the Minister’s Media Assistant, Alao Babatunde, Tunji-Ojo revealed this following an inspection of the ongoing construction of a 3,000-capacity Maximum Security Custodial Centre in Janguza, Kano State, as well as the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje, Abuja.
Reports indicate that similar audits have been conducted by the Nigerian Government in prison centres throughout the country.
The Minister who was quoted during the inspection of the facilities said, “The audit is ongoing but the good thing for me is that we did a facility audit earlier and we can see that the result of the facility audit is how we are intervening.
“So, we are very empirical and scientific in our approach. We don’t just throw solutions to unknown problems. We discover the problems, we know the root cause of issues, then we find solutions to them.”
Tunji-Ojo stated that a systematic approach is being used to conduct the audit, emphasising that it will lead to significant reductions in prison overcrowding.
He said, “So, the audit system is being empirical. It is scientific and that will lead massively to the decongestion of our Custodial Centres. It is not just saying you want to decongest. It is about you knowing the status. Life is all about data. Data is the new oil.
“Data is the blood of life in this millennium. The audit is going on and by the time we are done with the audit, you will see the level of decongestion that we will have as a result of the audit. So, we are just being empirical.”
During his visit to the Kuje correctional facility, the minister received a gift of three books written by an inmate who had spent 12 years in the correctional centre.