The Federal Government of Nigeria plans to relocate the over 200-year-old congested medium-security correctional facility in Keffi, Nassarawa State.
Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, stated this during a tour to inspect the dilapidated and overcrowded facility, which has, however, undergone rehabilitation, including the construction of new perimeter fencing.
The minister expressed dismay about the facility’s high inmate population during the inspection of the new Medium Security Custodial Centre, built in 1820 and located in Keffi town.
The Keffi custodial centre, originally designed to accommodate 340 inmates, now has a total of 750 inmates. Out of the 750 inmates, a total of 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. And obviously, it means 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 only have two correctional centres in Keffi, Keffi New and Keffi Old; we have over 1,000. 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 really investing in perimeter fencing in institutions. You can see, just this year, 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 make sure that the force majeure that happened 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 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 that we’ve been able to make.
“You can see what I mean by urbanization; you can see civilian houses sharing fences with the Correctional Centre here in Keffi. This means that it is not sustainable.
“We have to think about relocation because of the effects of urbanization. Perhaps we will be putting everything in motion to upgrade the facility and to build more facilities in the Keffi New to be able to relocate the Keffi Old to the Keffi New,” the Minister stated.
