Lawan expresses shock over lack of CCTV at Kuje prison

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has said the attack on Kuje correctional facility in the federal capital territory (FCT) was well planned and executed.

The facility came under attack on Tuesday by marauding terrorists, with hundreds of inmates — including all Boko Haram suspects at the centre — said to have escaped.

Speaking when he visited the facility on Thursday, Lawan bemoaned the security architecture of the penitentiary.

He expressed disappointment over the unavailability of closed circuit television (CCTV) at the centre, and asked the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to ensure it is listed in the 2023 budget for the security agency.

“The attack on this correctional facility is symptomatic of the failure of security failure. The attack is only a culmination of the failure,” Lawan said, according to a statement by Ezrel Tabiowo, his media aide.

“We were told that an estimated 300 terrorists attacked this facility. They came on foot, and I believe they should have been detected.

“In the first place, three hundred people will not come for an operation like this without planning. Planning must have taken a week, a month or a bit more. I believe that our security agencies should have picked this from their tracking systems in the FCT.

“Secondly, having gone round the facility itself, we are disappointed that this facility does not have Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, something that would record and give you details of what is happening and sometimes record the events.

“This is a medium security custodial center. How on earth in the FCT facility of this magnitude we don’t have CCTV? It means we can say that all other medium security centers across the country do not have CCTV.

“We have asked the Comptroller General of Correctional Centre to ensure that the request for CCTV at the maximum and medium custodial centres of the country is included in their 2023 budget because this is essential and indispensable.

“Now, as this facility lacks a functional CCTV, there’s no record of what happened, except narration. But if we had CCTV, at least the records would have been there and analysis made, and arrest will be based on the information from the CCTV.