Kuje prison, in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was attacked on the 6th of July. Official statement from the correctional service said that over eight hundred prisoners(889) escaped from Kuje prisons, including Boko Haram terrorists according to reports. According to the official statement, 559 prisoners remained in the prisons after the attack, 443 have been recaptured and 443 are at large.
This is Nigeria’s 20th jail break in 7 years and across the country and on social media platforms, Nigerians have expressed anger, worry and are calling for an end to the incidents.
The Nigerian Correctional Service underwent a name change in 2019 but the challenges bedevilling the service has not stopped. Its motto in part reads “Protect the society; reform the prisoner..” but these issues query the veracity of its motto and its operations.
Overcrowded Prisons
Prison capacity in Nigeria, across all facilities is 50,000 but the actual population of Nigerian prisons is seventy thousand spread across 253 custodial centres in the country.
The number of prisoners has been on the increase over the years. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the Nigerian prison was overcrowded by 34.2% in 2016. Data from the Nigerian correctional service shows that the overcrowding increased by 48% in 2022, showing a 12% growth in overpopulation of prisons between 2016 and 2022. The prison population in 2016 was 67329 and grew to 74675 in 2022.
Every prison across all states of the federation is overpopulated.
A review of Nigeria’s budget between 2018 to 2022 shows that the sum of N27.858 billion has been budgeted for construction of prisons. Between 2018 and 2021, N21.474 billion was budgeted for the “Construction of 3000 capacity model prisons in Kano/FCT, Bori, Damaturu and additional cells in Maiduguri new Prison”. The details further reads “Construction of 14 Nos, Satelites prisons/barracks: Nafada, Bagoro, Kombucha, Tambuwal, Gwaram and completion of prisons nationwide.
A separate sum of N16.654 billion was budgeted for ‘Prisons/Barracks Rehabilitation’ between 2018 and 2021.
In 2022, N5.585 billion was budgeted for construction of prisons without any description of location.
These investments are yet to translate to a reduction in the ratio of prisoners to prison facilities.
Awaiting Trial Dilemma
71% of prisoners in Nigeria according to the Nigerian Correctional Service, are awaiting trial. This is corroborated by data from the World Prison Brief. Nigerian prisons are overcrowded but not with persons declared guilty by the courts but by those awaiting trial while yet others are remanded.
A weak judicial system and the Nigerian police are culpable for the overcrowding of Nigerian prisons.
Reduction in Prisons Capital Expenditure
Despite increasing numbers of prisoners leading to overcrowding and the poor state of the facilities at the Nigerian correctional centres (prisons) which are in need of upgrades, capital expenditure for the service has decreased over the years.
Dataphyte’s review of five years of capital and recurrent budgets of the Nigerian Correctional Services between 2018 and 2022 show that there has been a 50% drop in capital expenditures for the correctional service from N22 billion in 2018 to N11 billion in 2022.
The inverse relationship between inmate growth and prisons capital expenditure affects its reform mandate and especially its capacity to provide basic amenities like healthcare or the hygienic conditions to prevent illnesses.
Vulnerability to Attacks
Between 2015 and 2022, Dataphyte tracked twenty attacks on prison facilities in Nigeria. 2021 has the highest number of incidents in the 7-year period with a total of 7 attacks.
Source: Dataphyte Daily Datacards
During a press briefing in November 2021, The Minister of Interior said the biometric data of all inmates in Nigerian correctional centres have been captured and that the system will make it easier to capture prison escapees and will enhance national security.
In 2018, N621.880 million was budgeted for ‘Prison Biometrics, Arms, Ammunition and other security equipment’. In 2019, a sum of N621.880 million was budgeted for ‘Prison Biometrics, Arms, Ammunition and other Security Equipment’. In the 2020 budget, a sum of N590 million was allocated to ‘Prison Biometrics, Arms, Ammunition and other Security Equipment’. The 2021 budget carried a sum of N501.619 million allocated to ‘Prison Biometrics, Arms, Ammunition and other Security Equipment’.
In 2022, a sum of N2.647 billion was budgeted for ‘Prison Biometrics, Arms, Ammunitions and Other security Equipment’.
In the last five years, the Correctional service has budgeted N4.98 billion for Prison Biometrics inclusive of spendings on Arms, ammunition and other security equipment. This figure represents an average of N19.68 million yearly to each of the 253 custodial centres(prisons) in the country.
The investment in biometric systems, arms and ammunition has however not translated to the stoppage of attacks on prisons and recapture of escapees.
The Minister of Interior also told officers of the NCoS at an event in January, to “shoot to kill” anyone who attempts to attack the prisons, perhaps a statement backed by the volume of investments in arms and ammunition for the prisons and its officials. Unfortunately, that instruction did not appear to deter the perpetrators of the latest attack.
The Nigerian correctional system needs serious interventions that address the issues that bedevil it from poor facilities to overcrowded prisons and its apparent lack of fortification against attacks.
Critical questions that hinge on accountability for the investments in the NCoS as well as whether these investments are enough to tackle its problems need to be answered.