The Nigerian Army has blamed low perimeter fence and the absence of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras as largely responsible for the Kuje prison break of July 5, 2022.
The assertion was made during a session in the ongoing investigation by the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Reformatory Institutions, Justice, Police Affairs, Interior, and Human Rights in Abuja on Wednesday, seeking to ascertain the whereabouts of inmates who escaped from Kuje Correctional Center.
Major Peter Ogbuinya, Assistant Director Commercial Law, Directorate of Legal Services of the Army said after the prison break, the army “observed that the place where Kuje prison is located is more of a built-up area.
“We observed issues of low fencing and lack of CCTV cameras within the area, but these were unable to be put in place before the incident.”
Mrs Ayoola Daniel, representing the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said the ministry was in support of the committee to decongest the prison, stressing that the correctional service had been removed from the exclusive to concurrent list, adding that states were expected to take up responsibility to decongest the prison.
Also speaking, Philip Ayuba, Assistant Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps asked the committee to look into how lawyers who are in the National Youth Service Corps could be engaged in providing services for prisoners.”We still have so many young men in prison; we are requesting that NYSC lawyers be sent to prison to look at some of the minor cases so that we can decongest the prison’, he stated.
In his remarks, Hon. Olumide Osoba, Chairman of the Committee on Justice, said, “We found ourselves in an embarrassing situation in July 2022,noting that it was condemnable to have such a large number of prisoners.
Also, Hon. Chinedu Ogah, Chairman of the Joint Committee said the correctional service is key to Nigeria’s security, saying that the committee would do what was right by ensuring decongestion while urging stakeholders to make effective contributions to do what was needed.
