FG Spends N1 Million Annually on One Prisoner, Aregbesola Unveils

• Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, discloses that the federal government spends N1 million annually to cater for one inmate in correctional facilities in the country.

• Aregbesola made the disclosure while inaugurating a 20-bed COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund Hospital and Equipment at the Maximum Security Custodial Centre, Port Harcourt.

• The minister assures that the Federal Government has provided a long-term solution to the challenges of running correctional services with huge demands for infrastructure, equipment, and maintaining the welfare of inmates.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has disclosed that the federal government spends N1 million annually to cater for one inmate at the correctional facilities in the country.

Aregbesola made the disclosure while inaugurating a 20-bed COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund Hospital and Equipment at the Maximum Security Custodial Centre, Port Harcourt.

In a statement by his spokesman, Sola Fasure, on Saturday in Abuja, Aregbesola added that the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had, to a large extent, addressed the problem of inmates contracting diseases in custodial centres.

He added that the new hospital was an intervention aimed at making robust healthcare available for those in custody and the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) staff.

The minister also decried the enormous challenges of running correctional services with huge demands for infrastructure, equipment, and maintaining the welfare of inmates.

Aregbesola, however, assured that the Federal Government had provided a long-term solution to the challenges.

Aregbesola said that the custodial centres were formerly centers for contracting diseases like scabies and tuberculosis, among others.

He added that the facilities and even the personnel are overstretched, but the government is coping and providing long-term solutions to this challenge.

Aregbesola also stated that the Federal Government will stop feeding inmates incarcerated for breaching state laws, as the inmates will have to provide for their own feeding.

The minister said that he had no doubt that the facility would go a long way in addressing the medical concerns of inmates and correctional service personnel.

He further stated that the Federal Government is constructing mega 3,000-capacity custodial villages in six geo-political zones of the country, which will provide long-term solutions to the challenges faced by correctional services in the country.

The facility for the South-South region is in Bori, Rivers State, while the ones for the North-West in Janguza, Kano and the North-Central, in Karshi, Abuja, are ready.

Aregebsola in his words: “The custodial centres were frighteningly centres for contracting diseases like scabies and tuberculosis, among others.

“Happily, this has been addressed by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and is now a thing of the past.

“We not only have well-manned clinics and well-stocked pharmacies, the inmates at the custodial centres now have access to excellent medical care beyond the centres.

“This centre in Port Harcourt, with a capacity for 1,800 inmates, presently houses about 3,067 inmates. This is just a reflection of the situation in most urban custodial centres where we have congestion at the moment.

“The facilities and even the personnel are overstretched, but we are coping and providing long-term solutions to this challenge.

“One of such solution is the construction of mega 3,000-capacity custodial villages in six geo-political zones of the country. The one for the South-South is in Bori, not far from here in Rivers.

“The ones for the North-West in Janguza, Kano and the North-Central, in Karshi, Abuja, are ready. Hopefully, we shall inaugurate the one in Kano in a few days, before our departure.

“Even work is steadily going on in the others and has reached an appreciable level. Let me also reiterate that the Federal Government will stop feeding inmates incarcerated for breaching state laws. As you commence your budget process for next year, include feeding your inmates.”