Osinbajo

The Federal Government has lamented the rot in the Nigeria Prisons Services (NPS) saying it would take several years of sustained and continued interventions by all stakeholders to reverse the trend.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated this in Abuja on Thursday during the official presentation of the Nigerian Prisons Survey Report, a research work undertaken by the Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) in conjunction with the NPS.

Represented by the Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau (rtd), the Vice President said any human being who goes into a Nigerian Prison would most certainly come out as an animal.

He said: “I visited the Port Harcourt Prisons yesterday. While I was waiting for my flight, I chose to go to the prison. What I saw is a reflection of quite a lot of things in the survey.

“The Port Harcourt prison was built in 1918, meaning it will be 100 years old this year. For very long, our prisons had been neglected because that prison, when it was built in 1918 was meant to contain about 800 inmates, but today it is containing over 5,000 and I find that very disturbing.”

“There was no room for prisoners and anybody who goes into that place as a human being is coming out as an animal,” he added.

While hailing PRAWA for the survey, Osinbajo said state governors must domesticate the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) while the Nigerian Police must be quick in their investigations to help in decongesting the prisons.