The federal government has revealed that it spends N1 million on each Nigerian inmate at the correctional facilities in Nigeria.
This was made public by Sola Fasure; the spokesperson of the minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola in a statement released in Abuja.
Aregbesola made this revelation while commissioning a 20-bed COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund Hospital and Equipment at the Maximum Security Custodial Centre, Port Harcourt, the capital of the state.
READ ALSO FG budgets N22.44 on feeding 75,507 inmates
He added that the government spends the sum of N1,065,790 on the maintenance of each of the inmates yearly.
He said the federal government would not feed inmates who are offenders at states levels by the end of the year.
The minister said President Muhammadu Buhari has, to a logical extent, solved the problem faced by the inmates who get sick in the correctional facilities.
“The custodial centres were frighteningly centres for contracting diseases like scabies and tuberculosis, among others.
“Happily, this has been addressed by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and is now a thing of the past.
“We not only have well-manned clinics and well-stocked pharmacies, the inmates at the custodial centres now have access to excellent medical care beyond the centres,” he said.
He lamented the huge resources it takes to provide infrastructure for and maintain the welfare of Nigerian inmates.
“This centre in Port Harcourt, with a capacity for 1,800 inmates, presently houses about 3,067 inmates. This is just a reflection of the situation in most urban custodial centres where we have congestion at the moment.
“The facilities and even the personnel are overstretched, but we are coping and providing long-term solutions to this challenge.
“One of such solutions is the construction of mega 3,000-capacity custodial villages in six geo-political zones of the country. The one for the South-South is in Bori, not far from here in Rivers.
“The ones for the North-West in Janguza, Kano and the North-Central, in Karshi, Abuja, are ready. Hopefully, we shall inaugurate the one in Kano in a few days, before our departure.
“Even work is steadily going on in the others and has reached an appreciable level.
“Let me also reiterate that the Federal Government will stop feeding inmates incarcerated for breaching state laws. As you commence your budget process for next year, include feeding of your inmates,” he said.
