Senate probes jail breaks, summons Aregbesola, Malami, Nababa   

Irked by last weekend’s terror attacks on the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCS in His, Plateau State, the Senate has resolved to carry out a thorough investigation into the causes of jail breaks across the country.

Similarly, the upper legislative chamber resolved to summon the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCS, Haliru Nababa to determine the status of correctional centres nationwide, with a view to finding out the challenges in order to prevent future recurrence.

The Senate Committee on Interior was mandated to carry out these resolutions following a motion, titled: “Terror Attacks on two Communities in Plateau North and Jail Break at the Jos Medium Security Correctional Centre Jos” sponsored by Senator Istifanus Gyang during yesterday’s plenary.

Rising under Orders 42 and 52 of the Senate Rules, Gyang noted with grief the multiple terror attacks on two communities of Ta’egbe, Rigwe land and Durbi, Sheri District in Bassa and Jos East Local Governments, leading to the death of over 10 persons over the weekend.

According to the lawmaker, the attacks caused by a security breach of the Jos Medium Security Correctional Centre, was a setback to the relative and much desired peace in Plateau North.

He disclosed that nine inmates, including an officer identified as Umar A. Mohammed, were also killed, while 252 inmates escaped during the jail break.

The lawmaker added that among the inmates at large were six were fatally injured, 10 of the escapees re-arrested, 63 sentenced to death, 27 convicted, and 181 awaiting trials.

Gyang said that the invaders responsible for the break “walked through a security zone and broke through to have over 200 inmates escape from the Centre.”

He added that the wardens who put up a fight against the invaders were overwhelmed during a gun battle against the attackers.

Contributing, the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (APC Kebbi North), attributed the recent jail break in the country to what he described as a “porous prisons system”.

He lamented that jailbreaks have become a recurring decimal which, in recent times have exposed the lives of Nigerians to harm, as a result of prisoners on rampage to avenge their conviction.

Also, Senator Ahmad Babba Kaita (APC Katsina North) blamed the spate of insecurity in Nigeria on the inadequate number of personnel across the various security agencies in the country.

He, therefore, called on the National Assembly to rise to the occasion by appropriating more funds to security agencies to enable them undertake recruitment of more personnel.

On his part, the Deputy Whip, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (Niger North), described the string of jail breaks across the country as “unfortunate”.

He said the development which must be tackled headlong was a fallout of correctional services being the weakest link in Nigeria’s criminal justice system.

The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who presided over plenary described the security breaches at correctional facilities as a “serious issue” that must be looked into.

Omo-Agege also canvassed for more funding to the office of the National Security Adviser to facilitate intelligence gathering.

He said, “Having given all the requisite funding to the security agencies, why are we still having these challenges? I think it is something we need to sleep over.

“But in the interim, it is clear that we have a serious intelligence gathering gap, there’s no debate about that.

“I think the Department of State Services, DSS and most especially the office of the NSA, have not been given the kind of funding that is required for this fight, because they are the ones that are in charge of intelligence gathering.

“I’ve always taken the position that the office of the NSA, most especially, has been underfunded.

“He is supposed to be the one coordinating intelligence gathering and providing such intelligence to the other agencies for them to give requisite protection.

“If the office of the NSA is not properly funded, then of course it means that we are all in trouble.

“I think this is something that we must appeal to Mr. President, and even here in the leadership of the National Assembly, to look into for additional funding for the office of the NSA and, possibly, that of the DSS before the budget is finally tabled for consideration.”

Accordingly, the Senate in its resolutions called for a reinforcement of physical protection system and mechanism at correctional centres across the nation by the Ministry of Interior to forestall further attempts at jail breaks.

The upper legislative chamber, however, commended the Judiciary for the recent judgement by the Federal High Court declaring all bandits and insurgents as terrorists, adding that doing so has empowered the military to take appropriate action against them.