Aregbesola instructed correctional officers to “be deadly, merciless, and dangerous to intruders”

Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has tasked officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service, (NCoS), to employ all means necessary to keep inmates in their custody safe from any harm at all times by being dangerous, deadly and merciless towards any unfortunate intruder of any custodial centre.

The minister gave the charge while addressing the fresh batch of 117 cadets’ graduates of the Assistant Superintendent of Correctional Basic Course, batch 6, of the Nigerian Correctional Service, a weekend in Kaduna.

He said that as the instrument of government at ensuring that convicts are kept away from society for them to be reformed and later reintegrated into the society as better citizens, correctional officers must keep all inmates in their custody safe from any harm and safe from themselves.

“Be a mother lion; gentle, friendly and fiercely protective of her cubs but dangerous, deadly and merciless towards any unfortunate intruder to her space. You have the backing of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the President to use all means necessary to perform your duty successfully.

“You must keep the inmates in your custody safe from any harm at all times; safe from external intruders, safe from other inmates and safe from themselves.

Reiterating that custodial centres are red zones, the minister said “More importantly, your institutions and all its custodial centres must be protected and made inviolable.”

He said the agency must not fail in its mandate of training and retraining officers for optimal performance and best delivery of the mandate of the Service in line with the NCoS Act 2019 if it must keep in trend with global best practices.

To the graduating cadets, Aregbesola said “you are the instrument of government for realizing these objectives. The training you have received is to equip you to carry out this task, you must not fail the nation and you must fail this institution, the Nigerian Correctional service.”

Present at the event were the Controller General of the NCoS, Haliru Nababa and representatives from the Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) and the Federal Fire Service, (FFS), among others.