*Set to relocate Suleja, Ikoyi prisons

THE Federal Government has said that it recorded a significant drop in the number of repeat offenders within the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), with recidivism figures plummeting from 11,616 in 2023 to 1,382 in 2025.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja during the formal presentation of the investigative report on the state of the nation’s custodial centres.

Tunji-Ojo attributed the sharp decline to sustained investment in inmate rehabilitation and educational reformation initiatives across the country’s custodial formations.
Providing a breakdown of recent inmate traffic, the minister revealed that 15,632 inmates were admitted into custody in May 2026 alone, while 14,190 individuals were released upon the expiration of their terms within the same period.

“Recidivism was 11,616 when we came in in 2023 but in 2025 it came down to 1,382 recidivists.
“It means that our reformation programmes are bearing fruits. The point is that we are no longer where we were. We are making progress. For us, not until recidivism gets to zero, we cannot say we have succeeded,” the minister said.

Assuring stakeholders that the findings of the investigative panel would be rigorously executed, the minister announced plans to establish an aggressive implementation framework backed by an independent monitoring and evaluation committee.
He said “This report will not gather dust on the shelves, we are going to be very aggressive in terms of implementation.”

As part of the impending structural overhauls, the minister flagged several colonial era facilities including the Suleja custodial centre built in 1914 and the Ikoyi facility built in 1955 for total relocation.
He noted that urban encroachment had swallowed up the mandatory 100 metre security buffer zones of facilities in Enugu, Abakaliki, Ibadan, and Lagos, leaving some sitting dangerously close to markets and government offices.

Tunji-Ojo subsequently appealed to state governments to co fund the relocation exercises, arguing that state judiciaries generate the bulk of the custodial burden.
“When we share the assets, we should also think of sharing the liabilities.

“About 90 per cent of these inmates are state offenders, not federal offenders, and 67 per cent are awaiting trial,” he pointed.
The minister further confirmed that President Bola Tinubu had approved a 50 per cent upward review of inmate feeding allowances, which has already been monetised by the Ministry of Finance.

He challenged civil society organisations to police the custodial kitchens to ensure compliance.
Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Magdalene Ajani, disclosed that the investigative panel inspected 86 custodial centres across 23 states to compile the assessment.

Also, Controller General of Corrections, Sylvester Nwakuche, welcomed the report, describing the ministerial probe as a healthy exercise in institutional accountability rather than a witch hunt.
The high level probe was instituted by the ministry following a controversial 2024 institutional scandal involving celebrity cross dresser Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, which has since resulted in the dismissal of an Assistant Controller-General of Corrections found culpable of systemic infractions.