Politics
THE Federal Government has commenced the construction of a 3,000-capacity Maximum Security Custodial Centre at Karshi, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of the project on Thursday, the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, said that the vision of government was to turn custodial centres into enterprise centres.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Federal Government started the construction of similar project at Janguza in Kano State in 2018 and it is almost completed.
Aregbesola said that the project was in continuation of the implementation of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) reform which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in May 2017.
“FCT has three custodial centres in Kuje, Dukpa and Suleja with 960 inmates capacity but have almost double of that figures presently.
“There are about 250 custodial centres across the country with over 74,000 inmates in custody and they are grossly inadequate. One major concern about our correctional institution is inadequate housing for inmates.
“Therefore, as part of the strategies to improving the conditions of inmates and the general state of the custodial centres, construction of Maximum Security Custodial Centres in each of the six Geo-Political Zones of the country was conceptualised.
“It is Government’s desire that when this project is completed, it would not only help in containing overcrowding but also facilitate access to justice as well as reformation and rehabilitation of inmates within the Federal Capital Territory and its environs,” he said.
Speaking about the design of the project, Controller-General, (NCoS) Mr Ja’afaru Ahmed, said “it included a maximum security custodial centre – for long and high risk inmates – and a medium security custodial centre – for medium term and minor offenders’’.
Ahmed said that there would be two courtrooms for a High Court and a Magistrates Court for easy dispensation of cases; standard workshops/vocational centres; classrooms, hospital, place of worship for both Christians and Muslims.
He added that recreational centres, shopping centre, guest house, club house and a host of other structures were also included.
He said that the infrastructure would provide better platforms for the implementation of the provisions of the Correctional Service Act, 2019.
He also disclosed that construction of another 3000-capacity maximum security custodial centre in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, representing South-South Geo-political zone, would commence soon. (NAN)
– Mar. 12, 2020 @ 19:25 GMT |
Tags: 000-capacity custodial centre in Abuja FG commences construction of 3
