Reps frown as Nigeria records 17 jailbreaks, 7,000 escapees in 8 years

Reps frown as Nigeria records 17 jailbreaks, 7,000 escapees in 8 years

The House of Representatives on Thursday urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately set up a judicial panel of inquiry on prison attacks in the country and ensure that such assaults on the entire security apparatus of Nigeria do not recur.

The House also mandated the Committees on Interior and Reformatory Institutions to interface with the relevant federal government agencies to constitute threat management in correctional centres across the country and collate data of inmates by enrolling them in the National Identity Number system and report within four (4) weeks for further legislative action.

The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion by Rep Kabiru Alhassan Usman Rurum from Kano State.

Rurum in his motion said the incessant attacks on custodial facilities of the Nigerian Correctional Service and frequent escape of inmates convicted and awaiting trial have become a dangerous trend as they portend grave danger to society and an embarrassment to the country’s security architecture.

He said the House is aware that from September 2015 to July 2023, there have been reported cases of about 17 jailbreaks across Nigeria, resulting in over 7,000 escapees.

He also noted that the recent rainstorm incident in Niger State which resulted in the escape of 118 inmates has again brought attention to the worrisome state of the nation’s correctional centres security architecture and the looming danger ahead.

The Reps member said the fact that prison officials are not properly trained to be infantry and confrontational, makes it difficult to repel such attacks, hence the need to put in place upgraded prison facilities with better security armed guards, walls, perimeter fences, solid gates, and the installation of modern equipment to easily detect security breaches and curb further attacks.

He said the grave implication of the jailbreaks is the fact that criminals have returned to society and their refusal to go back to prison indicates that they will continue to perpetrate more atrocities, leading to further breakdown of security across the country.

Rurum said that prison break constitutes a threat to national security and stringent actions must be taken to avoid further incidents.