OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR

OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR

(On the Need to sustain the Feeding of correctional centers’ inmates post 2023.)

 

THE HONOURABLE MINISTER FOR INTERIOR

MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

OLD SECRETARIAT, AREA 1 GARKI

FCT ABUJA.

 

Hon Dr Olubunmi Ojo,

 

1. We extend hearty felicitations to you on your appointment as a Minister of the Federal Government and your subsequent swearing-in on 21^st August 2023 to oversee the Ministry of Interior. We similarly congratulate you on the affirmative reports emanating from the Nigerian Immigration Service in respect of the reforms being experienced in the issuance of international passports, an area that once took on the garb of a hydra-headed monster. While we pray that these reforms will endure, we also pray that similar wind of reforms will get to other arms of your Ministry.
2. Hon Minister, a key arm of your remit that is in dire need of the wind of reforms is the Nigerian Correctional Service, formerly referred to as the prisons. In the context of this letter we shall limit our intervention and suggestions to the last administration’s plan on the feeding of inmates post 2023.
3. On 11^th May 2023, during a 2-day conference on prison decongestion at Abuja, the last administration notified that the Federal Government will stop feeding inmates of the over 240 correctional centers in Nigeria by December 31^st The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry who represented the then Honourable Minister, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, lamented that it spent over N22.4bn to feed the about 74,000 prisoners even though 90% of these inmates were being prosecuted by States. He further added that since the then President Buhari had signed into law the constitutional amendment Act that moved corrections/prisons from being an item in the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list, the State Governments would take responsibility for the feeding of the inmates.
4. About two days later, while inaugurating a hospital at the maximum security prisons Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the then Minister Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola stated that the Federal Government spent over N1m in feeding each inmate per year in all its facilities. He re-echoed the earlier statement by the Permanent secretary that the Federal Government would stop feeding inmates by the end of December 2023. The Minister further stated that the feeding of inmates would not be captured in the 2024 budget of the Ministry.
5. As an Organization that has intervened in the area of prisons and criminal justice reforms in the past 20 years, we use this avenue to ask you, Hon Minister, to revisit the Government’s plan to stop catering for the food of inmates. Since Government is a continuum, we believe that the statement credited to your predecessor truly represents the policy stand of your administration.
6. In giving effect to the policy, we believe that pertinent questions ought to be asked, chief of which is, how many States in Nigeria are viable enough to fund the daily feeding of inmates? Recent statistics by the Economic Confidential show that 17 States are not viable as their internally generated revenue (IGR) is less than 10% of their federal allocation. The report further stated that without the monthly federal allocation, many states remain unviable. In the face of the current inflationary head winds across the Nation’s economic horizon especially in the area of food, we wonder how these states would manage the assigned role of taking care of prison inmates.
7. The issues of inmates’ feeding, housing, welfare and general upkeep remain very sensitive and should be carefully handled. It is not a desirable approach towards shared responsibility that the Federal Government or any Government for that matter should, without adequate planning, seek to turn the responsibility of feeding inmates of its correctional centers to states. By announcing, off the cuff, that the funds for feeding inmates would not be captured in the 2024 federal budget, the Federal Government has betrayed a sense of irresponsibility. It is this anomaly that we seek your intervention, through this correspondence, to rectify.
8. For emphasis, Hon Minister, an unscheduled visit during meal time to any of our correctional centers would further drive home the seriousness of the situation and how sensitive this area of your assignment is. Testimonies from ex-inmates point to the horrible state of affairs in our centers more especially, the state of feeding. Stories are told of the food served in our prisons being not even fit for dogs. This dire situation comes amidst massive congestion of these centers. For example, Ikoyi medium correctional center in Lagos State with a built in capacity for 800 inmates currently holds over 3,000 prisoners.
9. On the heels of this spiraling congestion, few weeks ago the Lagos State controller of corrections triggered Section 12(4) and (8) of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 by rejecting more inmates in the facilities. This pause will surely cause a spill over in the holding cells of arresting Organizations which obviously are not equipped to hold inmates for long. It is indeed a crisis point in our criminal justice administration system. While we appreciate that the reasons for congestion go beyond the correctional centers and as such need the concerted efforts of all stakeholders, we specifically demand that those who have found their way into these centers be provided for by the Federal Government until such a time that an inter-Governmental body is set up to look at the issue of handing the feeding of inmates over to the states.
10. In closing, Hon Minister, we ask that you critically assess the extant situation and work to reverse the earlier-outlined plan of the Federal Government. It is not late to accommodate the proposal for the feeding of these inmates in your ministry’s 2024 budget while initiating efforts towards getting states to have a buy-in. To stand on the constitutional decentralization of corrections to abandon these inmates would be counter-productive. As long as these inmates are lawfully held in custody, the law gives them a right to be kept alive and catered for. These rights are enforceable in court.

11. Once again, accept our felicitations on your appointment and our wishes for a memorable and impactful sojourn in the Ministry of Interior. We extend to you our right hand of fellowship as partners in making our correctional centers fulfill their statutory role. Bon voyage.

E-Signed:

Ben Abraham, Esq

Founder, ZAREPHATH AID

info@zarephathaid.org

www.zarephathaid.org

ZAREPHATH AID (ZA) is a dynamic Non-Government, Nonpolitical and Nonprofit Organization with a vision for Criminal Justice reforms via Legal aid, prisoners’ welfare and rehabilitation.