Senate Seeks Investigation Into Incessant Jailbreaks, Invites Interior Minister

The Senate has directed its Committee on Interior to commence an investigation to unravel circumstances behind incessant jailbreaks in the country.

The lawmakers during plenary on Tuesday directed the committee to invite the Minister of Interior, the Comptroller General for the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), and the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the status of correctional centers nationwide.

This according to the lawmakers is to also prevent future recurrence of jailbreaks.

READ ALSO: Jailbreak: Over 3,000 Inmates Still At Large, Says Aregbesola

The Senate gave the directive to its committee after a Federal Lawmaker Senator Istifanus Gyang drew the attention of legislators to the attack on a correctional center in Jos, Plateau State over the weekend and the attack on two communities in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Senator Gyang said the attack is a setback to the relative peace in Plateau North and called for an efficient reinforcement and security management system to prevent attacks at correctional centers across the country.

Inmates On The Run

Several inmates are currently on the run due to incessant jailbreaks in the country.

Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola earlier in November said there are over 3,000 inmates at large following jailbreaks in Nigeria within the last year.

Aregbesola who disclosed this during a briefing at the State House in Abuja said 4,860 inmates escaped from various custodial centers from 2020 till date, and out of this, 984 have been recaptured.

This leaves the country with about 3876 inmates out of custody.

According to Aregbesola, biometrics of all inmates in the country have been captured, and it is the hope of the Federal Government that this exercise will aid the tracking and rearrest of the escapees.

Meanwhile, the NCoS on Monday said 252 inmates are still at large, while nine inmates were killed during the attack on Jos correctional centre.