The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has called on the House of Representatives to look into how lawyers who are in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) could be engaged to provide services for prisoners.
This, it said, would help in the plan to decongest the correctional centres across the country.
The Assistant Commandant General of NSCDC, Philip Ayuba, stated this at the one-day public instituted by the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Reformatory Institutions, Justice, Police Affairs, Interior, and Human Rights on Wednesday in Abuja.
The committees were investigating the whereabouts of inmates who escaped from Kuje Corrections Centre.
He said: “We still have so many young men in prison; we are requesting that NYSC lawyers be sent to prison to look at some of the minor cases so that we can decongest the prison.
Ayuba also stressed the need to embrace alternative conflict resolution, adding that this would also help to decongest the prison.
“We also suggest that those who have stayed more than a year or two should be given amnesty. They need to give the inmate better training so that those who leave can find better things to do, ” he added.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, who was represented by Mrs. Ayoola Daniel said the ministry was in support of the committee to decongest the prison.
He noted that the correctional service had been removed from the exclusive to concurrent list, adding that states were expected to take up responsibility to decongest the prison.
Also, Assistant Director Commercial Law, Directorate of Legal Services in the Nigerian Army, Major Peter Ogbuinya blamed the low fence and the absence of CCTV cameras as largely responsible for the Kuje prison break on July 5, 2022.
He said after the prison break, the army “observed that the place where Kuje prison is located is more of a built-up area.
According to him, We observed issues of low fencing and a lack of CCTV cameras within the area, but these were unable to be put in place before the incident.
The representative of the Chief of Staff, Ogbuinya, said the Nigerian Army was only playing a complementary role to the correctional centers to assist them.
He added that the army was not the only security agency deployed to Kuje prison.
Ogbuinya stated: “The day it took place, we had a rotation of troops, and it was that day the incident took place. I wouldn’t want to comment on the possibility of having an insider.
“Prior to that incident, the Nigerian army wrote a series of letters to the Comptroller General of the Correctional Service concerning our observations and things that would enhance security.
“We are still working to know if there are any soldiers who failed to do what they were meant to do within the military hierarchy.”
In his submission, the Chairman of the House Committee on Justice, Olumide Osoba said the Line prison break was an embarrassing situation for the country.
He said it was condemnable to have such a large number of prisoners, adding that there had been a lot of improvement at the correctional center since its oversight.
Also, Chairman, Joint Committees, Hon. Chinedu Ogah said the correctional service wa key to Nigeria’s security.
He said that the committee would do what was right by ensuring decongestion while urging stakeholders to make effective contributions to do what was needed.