From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The federal government has commenced the audit of inmates across the 256 custodial centres in the country, with a view to decongesting the facilities.
The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this after undertaking an inspection of the ongoing 3,000-capacity Maximum Security Custodial Centre in Janguza, Kano State, as well as the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje, Abuja.
According to him, the audit is necessary to enable the government to know areas of intervention.
“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 problems that are unknown. We discover the problems, we know the root cause of issues, and then we find solutions to them.
“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,” he said.
In a statement, at the Kuje facility, the minister got a gift of three books authored by one of the inmates who had been in custody for the past 12 years.
Tunji-Ojo who was elated, said the facilities are no longer prison but correctional centres for reforming the legally interned.
Earlier, the government had begun the process of decongesting Kuje Custodial Centre, following a jailbreak that took place in the centre.
Besides, the government is considering the construction and fortification of Karshi Correctional Centre to ensure that the jailbreaks in Kuje and Suleija custodial centres do not recur.