The Senate has taken a swipe at Nigerian Prisons, saying it was disheartening to hear that dogs in the service of the prisons were better fed than any of the over 81,000 inmates in prisons across the country.
Speaking, yesterday in Abuja, during the 2024 budget defence session with the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Interior, Chairman of the Committee and former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North), expressed surprise at the ugly situation that the prison authorities have 900 dogs across its detention centres and spends N800 every day to feed them while N750 is spent on an inmate.
He wondered why “dogs are better fed than inmates in prisons, many of whom are awaiting trial.
Oshiomhole, who noted that this explained why some inmates, who are convicted in minor case, leave prisons as hardened criminals because of the inhuman treatment meted out to them, adding “With the high cost of living, we suspect that these inmates are not fed three times a day. It is not your fault, don’t try to be defensive. It is an appropriation issue,” he told the Controller General.
Earlier, the Comptroller General, Haliru Nababa had told the committee that the service spends N800 per day to feed each of the 900 dogs in the service, while just N750 was allocated to feed each prisoner, majority of whom are awaiting trials, at N250 per meal.
