FG Announces Plan To Relocate Correctional Centres After Suleja Prison Incident

The Federal Government has pledged to relocate some correctional centres across the country.

This was disclosed yesterday by the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, when he visited the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre, where 119 inmates escaped due to a rainstorm that caused significant damage to the facility on Wednesday.

In a statement released in Abuja by Ozoya Imohimi, the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Tunji-Ojo said the government’s intention to transfer some correctional centres is to enhance space, security, and infrastructure.

“This facility was built in 1914 to house 250 inmates; before this incident, we had 499.

“This is a testimony to what we keep talking about the overcrowding of our correctional centres.

“You can look at the environment; it shows that we need to relocate them away from city centres to create better space, better security, and better infrastructure,” said the Minister as he stressed the importance of relocating several correctional centres to more suitable environments.

The Minister explained that the ministry is already working behind the scenes to create a correctional system that would benefit everyone.

Tunji-Ojo assured that such an incident would not happen again in any other facility across the country.

“This could have been avoided if the right information was disseminated at the appropriate time on the structure.

“I was not appointed to make excuses; I was appointed to take responsibility, and we are not shying away from taking responsibility.

“We will get them back and we will ensure this doesn’t happen again anywhere in the country,” the minister added.