The Minister of Interior, Mr Abba Moro, has denied claims that there was an attempted jail break by inmates at the Kirikiri Medium Cell, describing the incident as a riot.

“I think we can conveniently characterise what happened here on Friday as a riot that occurred within the prison.

“The riots from the information available to me is that some heads of churches, particularly the Freedom Chapel within the prison came here unauthorised to install some gadgets- the loud speaker system and some fans- without the knowledge of the authorities of Kirikiri prisons raised some questions” he said.

Mr Moro equally gave indications of ongoing talks with the prison management abroad to ensure compliance to international best practices.

He also noted that the prisons will be decongested through the categorisation of crimes and criminals that are within the prison.

“At the moment we have congestion and that is very unacceptable; this is part of the problem of the Nigerian Prison Service that we are grappling with now. But I can assure you by the time we finish our categorisaton of crimes and criminals and come up with possible solutions that will be able to come up with problems that will to contain the problem of congestion in our prisons”, he added.

He further noted that the correction facility requires a face lift especially the fence and watch tower, adding that “there is need for us to have a rethink on the level of freedom inmates can enjoy especially compared to international best practices”

The minister also used the occasion of his visit to look at the welfare of the inmates and promised that government is doing a lot to improve on the standards.