Nigeria’s exotic prisoners

SIR: It has taken only a phone recording released in the heat of an extralegal debt recovery for Nigerians to confirm what they had long suspected: that the dilapidated and squalid correctional facilities in the country are reserved only for the poor and politically incorrect, never for the politically connected.

Many of the prisons remain insecure and dilapidated.  In April 2024,when the skies let loose in Suleja,Niger State, parts of the Medium Security Custodial Centrecollapsed unleashing dozens of dangerous criminals into the society.

In June 2022, terrorists stormed the minimumsecurity prison, releasing some high-profile terrorists into the society. As a result of poor security, there have been other prison break around prisons in the country. In some instances where there has been no break, nature has wreaked havoc on poorly maintained structures, thereby greatly compromising the security of Nigerians in their communities.
 
The Nigerian correctional service is a key part of Nigeria’s criminal justice system. It is a penal set-up meant to ensure that those convicted of grave violations of the law are temporarily separated from the society and provided the opportunity to be sufficiently reformed and rehabilitated before they are reintroduced and reintegrated into the society.  

Historically, the objective of correctional service has always been noble, it is in how these objectives are implemented that has always posed very seriously challenges from which it is clear that Nigeria’s overcrowded prisons leave very little room for meaning reforms.
 
Over the years, Nigeria has grappled with the tragedy of awaiting trial inmates who end up spending more years than they would even if they are convicted of the crimes they are accused of.

Public officers in Nigeria like to boast that obedience to the rule of law is paramount. However, experience shows that the reverse is the case. It is common knowledge that many powerful people in Nigeria break the law at will, then deploy all their resources to prevent accountability for their infractions. That appears to be what influential prisoners did in spending jail term in an apartment rather than in a correctional service. This is done, no doubt by compromising some prison officers.
 
Given what has so far spilled into the public space, there is not telling the corners cut inside Nigerian prisons or in other state agencies. From the escapades of Bobrisky who called in favours to ensure that he was stationed far away from the squalor of the prison, it can be deduced that many other high-profile Nigerians who had cause to do term either did not do their term at all or were quartered in some expensively appointed accommodations while Nigerians and the courts which sentenced them thought they were doing term.

It appears that there is no end in sight to the rot seeping into various institutions of the Nigerian state. As long as this is the case,transparency and accountability will continue to elude the country. The chaotic consequences will surely be there for all to see.
 • Ike Willie-Nwobu ([email protected]).