Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said on Thursday that the government would relocate a lot of correctional centres to create better space, security, and infrastructure.
Tunji-Ojo made the pledge when he visited Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre, where 119 inmates escaped following a rainstorm that damaged the facility on Wednesday.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Mr Ozoya Imohimi.
The minister said it was imperative to relocate a lot of the correctional centres to conducive environment.
“This facility was built in 1914 to house 250 inmates; before this incident, we had 499.
This is a testimony to what we keep talking about: the overcrowding of our correctional centres.
“You can look at the environment; it shows that we need to relocate them away from city centres to create better space, better security, and better infrastructure,” he added.
According to him, the ministry is already working behind the scenes to fashion out a correctional system that would work for all.
Tunji-Ojo assured that such incident would not happen again in any other facility across the country.
“This could have been avoided if the right information was disseminated at the appropriate time on the structure.
“I was not appointed to make excuses; I was appointed to take responsibility, and we are not shying away from taking responsibility.
“We will get them back and we will ensure this doesn’t happen again anywhere in the country.”
NAN
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