How Buhari’s Administration Enhanced Capacity of the Nigerian Correctional Service- Jaafaru Ahmed
(Being a welcome address by at Commissioningof new operational vehicles at NCoS Hq)
It is with a great sense of honour and delight that I welcome you all to the National Headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Service on the occasion of the official commissioning of the Service’s newly procured operational vehicles by the Honourable Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola.
This morning, a total of fifty-nine (59) operational vehicles consisting of thirty-six (36) Mini Green Maria Vehicles, eighteen (18) Escort Duty Vehicles and five (5) Customized Green Maria Buses are due for commissioning by the Honourable Minister of Interior. Fifty-four (54) of these vehicles were procured with the 2019 Appropriation while five (5) vehicles were part of the 2018 Appropriation.
The procurement of the vehicles is part of Government’s deliberate efforts to enhance the capacity of the Nigerian Correctional Service to deliver on its statutory responsibilities particularly as it concerns the conveyance of the inmates to and from courts thereby facilitating inmates’ access to justice.
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I wish to state at this point that the Nigerian Correctional Service has received more governmental interventions in this present Administration of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR more than any other past Administrations in recent history especially on the areas of logistics and general infrastructure. In fact, between 2016 and 2018, the Service has commissioned a total of three hundred and ninety-seven (397) vehicles consisting of 218 vehicles with 2016 Appropriation, 49 vehicles with 2017 Appropriation and 130 vehicles with 2018 Appropriation. The procurement of these 54 vehicles being commissioned today therefore brings the total number of vehicles procured by the Nigerian Correctional Service under the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR to four hundred and fifty-one (451).
Indeed, the Nigerian Correctional Service has not had so good in recent history. And more than ever before, I wish to assure the Nation that the vehicles will always be judiciously used to ensure speedy dispensation of justice in the country. Nevertheless, the Service still needs more vehicles to meet the expected targets of conveying inmates almost on daily basis to the over five thousand (5,000) Courts spread across the country. This therefore calls for the sustenance of the budgetary funding in order to facilitate the procurement of additional vehicles in due course.
I wish to therefore use this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR for his gracious support and commitment to the transformation of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
The Service also owes a debt of gratitude to the National Assembly especially the Distinguished Members of the Senate Committee on Interior and the House of Representatives’ Committee on Reformatory Institutions for appropriating the needed funds for the Service to deliver on its statutory obligations.
I wish to thank our amiable Honourable Minister and Chairman of the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB), Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola for his leadership and personal commitment to the transformation of the Nigerian Correctional Service in particular and the Ministry of Interior and its Agencies in general.
I wish to assure the Government and the entire citizenry that the Nigerian Correctional Service will continue to discharge its mandates in the most effective and efficient manner as to justify the huge investments that have come our way.
Jaafaru Ahmed
Comptroller General
