FG Orders Evacuation of Abeokuta Prison Over ‘Horrible’ Sanitary Conditions

FG orders Abeokuta prison evacuation over “horrible” conditions, demands review of juvenile detention centres.

The Federal Government has ordered the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to evacuate inmates from its Abeokuta facility within four weeks due to what it described as “horrible” sanitary conditions.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, issued the directive on Monday during the third public hearing of the Independent Investigative Panel on Alleged Corruption and Other Violations Against the NCoS in Abuja.

“We can’t put up the pictures of what we saw there, horrible. So, it’s an urgent thing that needs to be done,” Ajani said, stressing the immediate need for intervention.

She also directed the NCoS to submit a detailed status report on all juvenile custodial centres nationwide within two weeks, condemning the detention of minors alongside adults. “When we visited about 28 states’ custodial centres, we found out that you don’t lump underage with adults… We need to be serious with what we are doing,” she stated.

The panel also flagged the Ilorin custodial facility for housing individuals aged 30 to 43 in what is designated as a borstal or halfway home. “Whether it’s a borstal institute or a halfway home, it must be clearly defined… The situation where you have 30 to 43-year-olds in a booster home or halfway home is not acceptable,” Ajani said, ordering the removal of all adults not meant for such centres.

Panel Secretary, Uju Agomoh, said the inquiry covers corruption, torture, cruel and degrading treatment, and systemic failures in correctional institutions, pledging that “the panel will be poised to bring in a kind of report that will make Nigeria have the kind of Nigerian Correctional Service that we want to become.”

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The panel was set up in 2024 after Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, suspended several officers at the Kirikiri Custodial Centres in Lagos over alleged misconduct, including preferential treatment of cross-dresser Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky.

The ongoing hearings aim to address welfare lapses, administrative irregularities, and inmate rights violations in Nigeria’s correctional facilities.