Plans to relocate the over 200-year-old Medium Security Custodial Centre in Keffi, Nasarawa State, have been concluded.
The minister of interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, dropped the hint during an inspection of the dilapidated and overcrowded facility.
However, it has undergone rehabilitation, including the construction of new perimeter fencing.
During the inspection of the new Medium Security Custodial Centre, built in 1820 and located within Keffi town, the minister expressed dismay about the large number of inmates being held in the facility.
LEADERSHIP reports that the Keffi custodial centre, originally designed to accommodate 340 inmates, now has 750. Out of the 750 inmates, 605 were awaiting trial.
Tunji-Ojo, who earlier inspected the ongoing construction of the 3,000-capacity Custodial Centre in Karshi, Abuja, expressed some reservations about the location but noted that the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and the Interior Ministry, would deliberate on solutions to the issues raised in his observations.
He said, “Our correctional centres, as we said, have changed from prisons to the Correctional Service. Obviously, this means that there has to be a paradigm shift in ideology, from a place of incarceration to a place of transformation, reformation, and correction.
“When we get back to the office, then we’ll sit down with the NCoS to brainstorm on possible solutions to some of the issues of concern.
“Here in Keffi, the custodial centres are highly populated, and the number of inmates is quite high. We have two correctional centres, Keffi New and Keffi Old, in Keffi alone; we have over 1,000 plus. That is a huge number – almost 1,500.
“We came to look at it, and of course, you know a lot of inmates from FCT get here. We have come to look, and we saw the perimeter fencing because, as we have always said, we do not want a repeat of what happened in Suleja (Niger State).
“We are investing in perimeter fencing in institutions. Just this year, you can see that perimeter fencing before was just the barbwire, which is transparent for everybody to see inside. The concrete fencing is now complete.
“We are not just limiting it to here. We have done our infrastructure audit, and our government is doing everything possible to ensure that the force majeure in Suleja does not happen anywhere.
“But I have to say this: we have 256 correctional centres, and these 256 correctional centres have been here for more than 100 years. When I speak of 1820, you know, this is 2024, which tells you that this correctional centre is arguably over 200 years old. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not become president 200 years ago.
Obviously, we are taking each one at a time, and we are making progress, and we‘re happy with the progress we‘ve made.
You can see what I mean by urbanisation; civilian houses sharing fences with the Correctional Centre here in Keffi. It means that this is not sustainable.
We have to think about relocation because of the effects of urbanisation. Perhaps we will be putting everything in motion to upgrade the facility and build more facilities in the Keffi New to relocate the Keffi Old to the Keffi New,“ the Minister stated.