Victor Ezeja
AdminThe disclosure by the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) authorities that they spend more money to feed dogs than the prison inmates riled members of the National Assembly joint committee on the Interior who described such spending as unacceptable!
The lawmakers’ reaction came yesterday when the NCS Controller General, Haliru Nababa made the revelation as he led top officials of the Service before a joint National Assembly Committee on Interior to defend the parastatal’s 2024 Budget.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHe said, “The Nigeria Correctional Service has written the Minister of Interior requesting for the review of the amount we are using to feed the inmates from N750 per day, to N3, 000 per day We are still waiting for the approval.
“We are therefore seeking the assistance of the National Assembly to approve the increment.
“We have made provision for the feeding of inmates, dogs and staff on training in six training institutions across the country. The money is grossly inadequate.
“The total number of the inmates in 2023 is 81, 354 nationwide while 53, 352 are awaiting trial. The budget for feeding each of them per day is N750 at N250 per meal, per inmate.
“We also have about 100 dogs that we feed with N800 per day,” he said.
Nababa however pointed out that the feeding allowance per day would be reduced to N720 after the reduction of VAT and tax
When the joint panel demanded for the breakdown of the menu being served the prisoners as breakfast, lunch and dinner, the CG and his team said they have the menu of what the prisoners should eat as breakfast, lunch and dinner based on the locality they are being remanded.
The Controller General however said they were not with the menu chart which contains the quantity of the food and the ingredients needed to prepare it.
Oshiomhole who is the Chairman of the joint committee wondered how the authorities of the NCS manage to feed the inmates with such paltry sum going by the market price.
According to him, “53, 352 or more are not convicted yet, they are awaiting trial. They are not guilty of any offence known to law.
“They are innocent under our laws. For an innocent Nigerian who is being held in a correctional home N250 per meal is grossly inadequate. I wonder what you are feeding them with. They are obviously underfed.
“The Minister of Interior said yesterday that the NCS rather than being correctional is dehumanising. I am surprised that the 2024 budget is still based on old figures.
“I am surprised the CG cannot, based on the market forces cannot present before us, the realistic amount that could feed an innocent Nigerians who has not been pronounced guilty by any court of. You mean the chart is so complicated that you will need to read a book to tell us?”
The Committee chair further caused a stir when he asked the NCS team how much it costs them to buy the quantity of the foodstuff and ingridients needed to prepare the meal of a prisoner.
He said, “This is a very important assignment. A lot of Nigerians under your care are innocent. They are in prisons, courtesy of big men and women who want to “teach them a lesson.
“Many of them are there on an offence they knew nothing about. However, the system has put them under your care.
“Somebody said if Mandela was in a Nigerian prison for 27 years, he would have lost his sanity by the time he was released to govern South Africa.
“Our prisons are meant to correct the behaviours of the people. They are not condemnation centres. They are not to dehumanised.
“How can you look us eye to eye and tell us that you feed a grown up man in Nigeria with N750 a day?
“One thing that has come out is that an unconvicted Nigerian is being fed with N750 and you feed each of the dogs under your care with N800 per day.
“So, a dog is better fed in the Nigerian prison than an innocent Nigerian in your custody.
“It is a policy issue. We don’t know the intention of government to appropriate money to feed animals than to feed human beings. It is a major policy issue for us.”
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