Kuje attack: Prison facilities not built to withstand new crime trend, says NCoS CG

Haliru Nababa, controller-general of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), says the correctional centres were not constructed to withstand the new trend of crime in the country.

Nababa said this on Monday when he featured on a Twitter Spaces conversation organised by Premium Times.

He was speaking on the recent attack in Kuje, federal capital territory (FCT).

On July 5, gunmen attacked the Kuje correctional facility in the FCT with explosives, and freed over 500 prisoners.

The Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Speaking on the attack, Nababa said efforts are ongoing to improve the current facilities and also build new ones.

“It’s unfortunate that this thing happened. Nobody prays for that. The correctional service lacks personnel. We need the deployment of ICT to see how we can fortify records of these occurrences,” he said.

“But most importantly, the speedy completion of our 3,000-capacity custodial centres in six geo-political zones. You see, the correctional service infrastructure actually is not built to withstand this kind of new trend of crime that is facing us.

“The 3,000-capacity custodial facility that is being built in six geo-political zones will go a long way to forestall some of these attacks.  Then, the procurement of operation vehicles.

“These are people that come with sophisticated weapons of which AK-47 cannot just withstand, so to say. But I know with adequate training, the synergy between the security agencies and co-ordination, and then intel even coming from communities will help us. Then, the training with adequate funding will go a long way to stem some of these unfortunate incidences.”