Relocation: Key to transforming correctional service – Tunji-Ojo

This was coming after the announcement by the Federal Government to relocate 29 correctional centres from urban areas.

According to Tunji-Ojo, relocation is a necessary condition for revamping the decaying infrastructure and reducing the risk of having prisons close to urban centres.

He further stated that the purpose of changing the name of the service from prison to correctional centre would be defeated if the current state of the facilities were allowed to prevail.

Tunji-Ojo, who spoke while inspecting the facilities at the Nigerian Immigration Service offices and the Marriage Registry in Lagos, said:  “Urbanization has come to the correctional centre facilities.

This facility (Ikoyi Correctional Centre), I see no reason why it should still be here. You can see that it sits with the magistrate court, church, and residential buildings, I mean, there are a lot of commercial structures around, so there is a need to move it from here.

“We’re looking at it, see how we can perhaps relocate some of these correctional centres and we’ve been very keen in that regard.

“We need to make sure that we do what is right, and we’re able to have custodial centres that will be real correctional centres indeed and not a place that will be psychologically damaging. We want those who are sentenced by the court to come to the correctional centres and be reformed, we want them to come to the correctional centres and be corrected, which will reflect the change of name from prisons, which is a place of incarceration, to correction, which means a place of transformation. So, we don’t want to pay lip service to the change of name.

We want a change of ideology; we want to change the orientation, and of course, we want a change in terms of our approach of methodology so that people will leave here and see this place as a place of hope.”

He added: “We want the correctional centre to be a place of education and a place of transformation but with this environment, it’s difficult to achieve that.”

The Interior Minister also gave an update on the e-gates technology, described as an advanced border management system aimed at improving border security and easing the movement of passengers coming into and going out of the country.

Back in December 2023, the Federal Government unveiled plans to deploy e-gates at selected airports in the country.

According to him, the e-gate in Abuja airport is ready.

“Very soon the President will commission it. We’re good to go. We just want the president to commission it,” he affirmed.

Tunji-Ojo further stressed the enormity of the task before the ministry.

“We’re not shying away from the problems. We’re facing the problems and we will solve the problems. Nevertheless, Nigerians cannot expect a problem of 100 years to be sorted completely in one year,” he said.

Citing specific examples, he said: “This correctional centre you see here was built in 1955. If I’m not wrong, you know, so you know how long that is. Today, Keffi Correctional Center was built in 1820, while Suleja was built in 1914. Do you know how long that is?

“This is to tell you how old they are. So the President inherited accumulated issues. And what the President is trying to do is to say, ‘look, a journey of a million miles starts with a single step. It’s never too late for us to start.’

The President, since the first day in office, has started some reforms; today, we can see some of these reforms. When you get to Kuje Correctional Centre, you will see what is happening there. Look at our airport. Look at even immigration. A lot of things are going on.”

The minister assured that government is determined to bring about a turnaround.

“We don’t want to do things in the usual way. We want to do things unusually and to change the narrative,” he stated.

He stressed that the anomalies he observed in the agencies he visited in Lagos would be corrected soon.