The Federal Government is considering plans to relocate Ikoyi prison and other correctional centers from urban areas to new locations.
This was announced by the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday.
Tunji-Ojo explained that urbanization has encroached on the areas around correctional centers, which originally required more buffer space.
He said, “Under this administration, we’ve not had any jail attack; what we’ve had was force majeure which was Suleja because that particular correctional center was built in 1914. It’s about 110 years old. President Tinubu was not President 110 years ago. He inherited 256 correctional centers that needed attention. There is no way he would have completely overhauled it in one year.”
Addressing the impact of urbanization, Dr. Tunji-Ojo highlighted, “Look at Suleja for example, the Suleja correctional center that came down was only 7 meters away from the next house, instead of what the law says which is a buffer space of 100 meters. So, urbanization has eaten deep. Look at Ikoyi Correctional Center sharing a fence with another house. What’s a correctional center doing in Ikoyi? This administration is looking at being able to initiate the process of possibly relocating some of these correctional centers.”
The minister also mentioned that the government would soon start an “inmate audit” across the 256 correctional centers in the country. This audit aims to identify and free inmates who should not be in prison.
Tunji-Ojo noted that President Bola Tinubu inherited many old correctional centers needing attention but assured that the government has begun renovating and rebuilding some of these facilities. “We’ve renovated over 10 correctional centers under this administration. The government has done magic in the Kuje correctional center,” he said.
