FG Orders Evacuation of Abeokuta Custodial Centre Over Poor Sanitary Conditions

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

Permanent Secretary, 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.

Describing the state of the facility as “horrible,” Ajani stressed the urgency of intervention, adding, “We can’t put up the pictures of what we saw there — horrible. It’s an urgent thing that needs to be done.”

Ajani, who chairs the panel, also directed the NCoS to submit a comprehensive status report on all juvenile custodial centres nationwide within two weeks. She expressed concern over illegal detention of minors, the mingling of juveniles with adult inmates, poor welfare conditions, and administrative lapses.

“When we visited about 28 states’ custodial centres, we found out that you don’t lump underage with adults,” she said, adding that the status of the Ilorin facility — reportedly housing adults aged 30 to 43 in what should be a borstal or halfway home — was unacceptable. She ordered the immediate removal of all adults from such centres.

Panel Secretary, Uju Agomoh, said the investigation covers corruption, torture, cruel and degrading treatment of inmates, and systemic failures in correctional institutions. “The panel will produce a report that will help create the kind of Correctional Service Nigeria aspires to have,” she stated.

The directive follows a September 2024 decision by Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo to suspend several officers at the Maximum and Minimum Custodial Centres in Kirikiri, Lagos, over alleged misconduct in the handling of cross-dresser Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky.