The House of Representatives has charged the Nigerian Correctional Service to provide details of inmates who escaped from the Medium Security Custodian Centre in 2022.
According to The PUNCH, the House mandated its Committees on Reformatory Institutions, Interior, and Police Affairs during the plenary on Wednesday to collaborate with the heads of the relevant security agencies to produce a comprehensive report on the status of the escaped inmates.
The committees are given six weeks to report back to the House for further legislative action.
The resolutions of the House followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Emmanuel Ukpong–Udo, a member representing Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State.
The Islamic State in West African Province claimed responsibility for the July 2022 attack on the Kuje Custodian Centre, which led to the escape of dozens of Boko Haram suspects.
Leading the debate, Ukpong-Udo noted that “On July 5, 2022, a jailbreak in Abuja’s Kuje Medium Custodial Facility resulted in 879 inmates, including 64 Boko Haram terrorists, fleeing, with 422 remaining unrecovered or recaptured by security agencies.”
The House also said, “That the Nigeria Correctional Service requires a comprehensive report on inmate incidents and methods to trace inmates and perpetrators, utilizing its database.”
It stressed that it was concerned that the presence of law-abiding citizens among 350 escapees with diverse offenses “poses a security risk as daily crimes are recorded without any trace of perpetrators.
“This is disturbing that after a year, the escapees are thriving in different communities, blending in and potentially continuing their criminal activities unnoticed, necessitating the urgent need to have reasonable measures in place to track and apprehend these individuals.”
