The Nigerian Correctional Service has formed a special security team to beef up security around the country’s custodial facilities.
This is according to a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by the Service Public Relations Officer (SPRO), Mr Francis Enobore.
Mr Haliru Nababa, the Controller General of the NCoS, made the announcement following a meeting with the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Abubakar Audi, and the Acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr Idris Jere.
The meeting, according to Nababa, was centered on strengthening intelligence gathering and sharing among security operatives in order to thwart attacks.
He recalled that on December 9, during a ministerial retreat in Ilorin, Kwara, the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, directed security agencies under the Ministry of Interior to work together as a family in the areas of intelligence gathering, sharing, and physical confrontation with jail attackers.
He defined the offenders as common enemies whose major goal was to question the authority and test the strength of the Federal government and, as a result, they should not be permitted to live to tell their story.
He also stated that the synergy would include the immediate establishment of a Joint Taskforce of Armed Personnel comprised of the three arm bearing agencies under the Ministry of Interior.
He also stated that the task force would work alongside officers and men from the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Nigeria Police Force who were already deployed to assist the corrections armed squad in guarding custodial facilities.
Audi responded by praising the initiative and promising to task all State Commandants of his Service with preparing for the difficult task.
Audi stated that this would include safeguarding custodial facilities, which have now been designated as critical national infrastructure, as the final agency in the implementation of Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
He also advocated for more regular meetings and investment in intelligence gathering to help prevent future armed incursions and other criminal activities.
Also contributing, Jere stated that the NIS was ready to activate the data of escapees at all entry and exit points manned by his personnel in order to strengthen the recapture process that had already begun.
Jere praised the CGC for aggressively pursuing the deployment of technology that, sooner rather than later, would replace the current operational system, making escapes/jail attacks more difficult, among other things.
He also emphasized the importance of forming a united front to confront the misguided activities of armed criminals, and expressed confidence that they would be defeated in no time.
In a related development, the Controller General met with the Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr Aliyu Abubakar, on Thursday, 16 to finalize the process of red-flagged fleeing inmates.
Nababa stated that it would be accomplished through the harmonisation and sharing of inmate data already captured by NIMC in online transactions.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), six attacks have occurred in Nigerian Custodial Centres since October 2020, in various parts of the country.
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