Minister of Interior Abba Moro yesterday threatened to sack prision chiefs over prison breaks.
He spoke at a meeting with top management officers of the Nigeria Prisions Services (NPS) in Abuja.
He said: “I want to assume that all of you know why you joined the prisons service, you now know that the reality on ground is that you are not fulfilling that responsibility. Because if armed robbers can invade your prisons and free all the inmates, then what it means is that you are not justifying the introduction of arms-carrying in the service.
“You will agree with me that like all other forces, you signed to serve and the implication of signing to serve is that you are prepared to pay the supreme price. Nobody wants to die and I do not want you to die but I think you should be patriotic enough to die, if your death will save this country. In any case, if this country is not there and you are alive, your life has no meaning. That is the reality. This is a situation that has never been with us before.
“And because you have signed to do this job, let me state here without any fear that from now on, all command officers will be held accountable and will be properly sanctioned if there is any further breach of peace and escape of prisoners from our prisons. This statement is intended to ask you to be committed to do the work or if you think that you cannot do it, I will be very happy to receive your resignation letters.
“This moment in the life of this country calls for complete alertness. It means that all of you must devise the appropriate strategy to curtail the situation in your commands. Go and provide that intelligent fencing that will keep the hoodlums at bay. That is what you will use your head to do as a commander and leader. I do not want you to take these statements as threats but just necessary instructions that will help you carry out your functions. And I know that you know that Nigerians will hail you if there is no further jailbreaks.
“You can see the challenges facing us. No thanks to the neglect of previous administrations concerning the decayed infrastructure. The leadership of the prisons have neglected the prisons infrastructure. You should keep the prison environment clean. You do not need any presidential permission for that. You do not need N 1 billion to do that.
“Circumstances are becoming very complicated. In recent times, you have become the custodians of very high profile inmates. In recent times, people have constituted themselves into vanguards of nefarious activities that touch on the very foundation of this nation. I think that because of the sophistication and activities of these people we have lost our guards. We owe it a responsibility to rise up to the challenges.
“What happened in Koton Karifi recently has challenged all of us and by now I think we should know whether you are capable of securing our prisons or not. Some of you that I can see your faces now that are a little old in this system, I do not know whether you are experiencing what we are experiencing here today in your life. I do not also know if you have the mental and physical alertness and skill to tackle the circumstances in which we found ourselves today.”
On how to ensure that the 73 inmates who are still at large are rearrested, Moro said: “The complexity of our detractors, especially those that attacked the prisons, is such that you alone cannot discharge this responsibility alone. Let us work with our sister security agencies for necessary synergy so that together we can take the prison service to the next level.
“I held meetings with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Judge of some states and some governors and we all agreed that the criminal Justice system in the country is slow. One of the greatest challenges that we have, therefore, is that the greater proportion of our inmates are awaiting trial, some of them for almost 10 years. This is not just worrisome but it is also unacceptable. As custodians of these inmates, we have not done enough to present them before the justice system.
“At the moment, we have about 73 inmates at large. It is in the interest of all of us. We must make every effort in collaboration with other security agencies to apprehend the inmates that are at large. We cannot afford to have them in the midst of the public. We must get it right this time. We cannot promise Nigerians that the challenges of insecurity will be over and they keep aggravating by the day. By the time Nigerians completely lose confidence in Nigeria, you and I will be the next target because we are the operator of government at the moment. Nigerians look up to us because we are living by their will. The salary you take, the allowances you take, the salary I take are the tax payer’s money. You either justify the pay that you take especially the uniform that you wear or there will be some problems.”
The minister later inaugurated a five-man committee led by one Mr. John Oga, with the mandate to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack on the Koton Karfi prison, to establish the extent of damage, and make appropriate recommendations to forestall future attacks and jail breaks.
According to the minister, the committee has just three weeks to submit its report.
