Renaming prison service an error, jailbreaks have worsened — Akpabio

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The Senate, on Tuesday, expressed displeasure over the frequent jailbreaks witnessed across the country in the past few years.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, lamented that many jailbreaks had occurred after what he called a deceitful change of name from Nigeria Prisons Service to Nigeria Correctional Service.

Akpabio spoke during the consideration of a bill for the amendment to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act.

He stated, “Since the adoption of that name, we have had more jailbreaks,” adding that “Laws are meant to punish and to correct. If by the time you are convicted and you are sent to prison, you are even meant to learn a skill and ethical reorientation and all that. It is not only when we specifically call it a correctional centre and yet we are not correcting anything.

“I support the idea of having a thorough examination of the bill for the amendment to the RMAFC Act to avoid making the same mistake we made in coming up with the Correctional Services as a name.”

Recall that no fewer than 10 jailbreaks occurred since the name was changed from the Nigerian Prisons Service to the Nigerian Correctional Service by President Muhammadu Buhari on August 15, 2019, after signing the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019 into law.

Findings have shown that within the last 10 years, about 20 jailbreaks occurred in Nigeria, a development the Senate President blamed on incompetence and deceit.

Between 2021 and 2022 alone, no fewer than eight prison outbreaks were recorded in Nigeria with over 4,000 inmates fleeing as a result.

Five prison breaks occurred in 2021 while three occurred in 2022 across the nation.

On April 5, 2021, 1,844 inmates escaped from the Owerri Correctional Centre, Imo state, after gunmen attacked the facility. Three months later (July 8, 2021) four awaiting-trial inmates escaped from the Jos Custodial Centre, Plateau state.

Another jailbreak occurred on September 13, 2021, at Kabba Correctional Centre, Kogi state, where over 2,400 inmates ran away. Yet on October 22, 2021, gunmen attacked Abolongo medium-security custodial centre, in Oyo State.

Back in Plateau State,262 inmates escaped from Jos Correctional Centre on November 28, 2021, Plateau state, after gunmen invaded the facility. Nine inmates were killed, while 262 inmates were at large according to government officials.

On January 2, 2022, three inmates escaped from Mandala Custodial Centre, Ilorin, Kwara state, while on May 13, 2022, three inmates escaped from Agbor prison, Delta state following a downpour that washed away the northern perimeter wall of the prison.

Again, on July 5, 2022, 879 inmates, including 64 terrorists, escaped from Kuje Prison in the Federal Capital Territory.

In April 2024, the FCT Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service disclosed that 118 inmates fled the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Suleja, Nigeria State after a heavy downpour damaged the facility.