Nigerian Prisons, Inmates and Officials by Comrade Andrew Emelieze

 

It is no longer news that our correctional centers are in deplorable conditions. In reality, they function as punitive prisons rather than correctional centers—serving as places of torment, dehumanization, and corruption. The firsthand experiences of former inmates and prison inspectors prove that our so-called correctional centers have become hell on earth.

Our prisons are severely dilapidated, overpopulated, and plagued by poor feeding regimes and disease outbreaks. Prolonged awaiting-trial cases have led to extreme overcrowding, the rapid spread of infections like tuberculosis, a high population of sick inmates, and an alarmingly regular occurrence of inmate deaths. This health crisis exposes inmates to grievous danger and, by extension, compromises the safety of correctional officers, their families, host communities, and society at large. Our prisons have become breeding grounds for infectious diseases that will inevitably find their way back into the larger populace.

Inmates are subjected to unimaginably hostile conditions. The quality of prison feeding is a crime against humanity. Inmates sleep on bare floors, packed tightly together like slaves in the cargo hold of an underground slave ship. In overcrowded cells—particularly the category known as "sabo"—prisoners are forced to sleep on top of one another. Virtually every inmate suffers from one ailment or another, making the spread of illnesses a daily reality. The prevalence of tuberculosis in these facilities directly confirms our outcry.

One wonders if external bodies ever inspect these facilities. Anyone who has visited our prisons as an inspector, guest, or former inmate, and fails to expose this rot, lacks a conscience.

Furthermore, many citizens are detained on frivolous charges or simply because they cannot meet stringent bail conditions.

 In Nigerian prisons, it is common to find individuals awaiting trial for ten to fifteen years. A justice system that keeps citizens  awaiting trial locked up in hazardous conditions for over a decade is oppressive and indicts our entire judiciary. What is being done to these inmates is unjust and constitutes a crime against humanity. Today, a prison sentence in Nigeria is effectively a death sentence. Human beings should not be treated this way; a prison term should not be a double punishment. Surviving a Nigerian prison requires either a miracle or sheer luck. Given these horrific conditions, sentencing anyone to prison is a miscarriage of justice.

Our legal system and judiciary must be called to question. No just legal system should tolerate these hellish conditions. One wonders if judges, Chief Judges, and members of the judicial community ever visit these prisons. If they did, we are certain they would decry these conditions and hesitate to sentence anyone to these facilities. Prison terms in Nigeria focus entirely on punishment rather than rehabilitation. This is a national embarrassment, especially when compared to prison management in civilized countries. The Nigerian government owes a profound apology to all current and former inmates.

To this end, the Federal Workers Forum calls for:

Justice and Reparations: We demand justice and compensation for abused inmates.

Immediate De congestion: We call for a general amnesty to de congest overcrowded prisons.

Prerogative of Mercy: Inmates awaiting trial for over five years should be granted immediate pardons. They have already served prison time without being found guilty or convicted.

Abolition of Capital Punishment: All death sentences should be commuted to life imprisonment.

Speedy Trials: No awaiting-trial inmate should spend more than one year in custody without their trial being concluded. There must be a strict statutory time limit for every trial to prevent a miscarriage of justice.

Welfare of Correctional Officers and Paramilitary Staff.

Our attention has also been drawn to the poor welfare conditions of correctional officers. Aside from receiving meager remuneration, major allowances due to them are withheld. More painfully, officers are compelled to use their personal funds from their small salaries to purchase their own uniforms, desert boots, official belts, rank badges, and other kit items. It is unacceptable that federal workers are forced to self-fund four different uniforms a week out of their meager pay. This practice we were made to understand persist amongst the paramilitary outfits under the Federal Ministry of Interior.

Furthermore, credible information indicates that correctional officers writing the current promotion interviews were forced to contribute ₦10,000 each for the "welfare" of their examiners. Similarly, officers of the Federal Fire Service are allegedly being extorted to the tune of ₦25,000 each to sit for promotion examinations.

Some Lebanese Christian villages 'asked to be annexed to Israel', Netanyahu says 

Violent Crimes and The Spectators

 

The consensus among Nigerians is that the arms build-up in different parts of the country has its background woven around the aspirations of actors in the socio-political scene in the land.

The arms build-up festers side by side with poverty, hunger, and brigandage, while the land has over time become fertile for trading in illegal arms with evil deeds as the major focus.

Indeed, state actors are familiar with the negative effects of injustice, inequality, nepotism, and favoritism, but are, sadly, handicapped by self-centered interests and incurable greed.

Interestingly, the competition for power and privilege has resulted in the loss of precious lives and the wanton destruction of the properties of innocent and harmless citizens. The debate among Nigerians now is on what constitutes the major functions of state actors.

The illegal influx of arms and ammunition has continued unabated through constitutional and unconstitutional channels with the active connivance of those who ought to be well-informed on security matters.

As violent crimes soar nationwide through the use of sophisticated weapons, Those-in-Charge have adopted the position of spectators to the amazement and chagrin of Nigerians.

Why Bible Prophecy is Important 

Terrorists strike again in Olorunsogo, Molete, Ibadan vandalizing private property

Known terrorists in Olorunsogom, Molete, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria struck again on Monday 29^th June 2026 vandalizing a private property located at No. 3 Kehinde Aderibigbe street.

The criminals who are well known in the community operated unhindered fortwo hours, breaking open doors and windows.

Among them were one Segun Adewale, Lekan Adewale and Imole Adewale, in addition to their gang members based in Amoke mall and God glory store in the community.

Indeed, indiscipline, lawlessness, criminality, diabolism persists in the state as a result of the long-standing tacit approval from the state government.

Before this time, the terrorists had attacked the occupant of the vandalized building with iron rods, causing him life threatening body injuries.

Law enforcement in the community particularly in the community and the state generally is very weak due to the complicity of those who are supposed to protect lives and property.

Asbury Seminary Removed From UMC Approved List Over Marriage, Sexuality Standards 

The Position of the State and the Killing of its Citizens

 Adolf Hitler labelled the extermination of the Jews in Europe, '' the final solution'', while the military dictatorship in Argentina which embarked on an unprecedented killing of its citizens code named same ''The process of National Integration''.

The activities of insurgents and armed herdsmen which have claimed thousands of livers are similar to the above mentioned.

Between 1976 and 1983 millions of citizens lost their lives in Argentina. Death squads operating under secret circumstance and the cover of the state murdered about 11, 000 people, which are now described as ''The Disappeared''.

Two million people escaped persecution, while hundreds of babies born to ''The Disappeared'', were either sold, bartered or murdered.

Indeed, happenings in several states of Nigeria, including Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Kogi, Nasarawa and Kaduna, indicate that government is fully aware of the insecurity, even as the killings continue. This calls for concern.

On March 23, 1976, General Jourge Videla, Head of the Argentine Army overthrew the government of Isabelita Peron, a former night club dancer. No civilian government had completed its tenure, excerpt for Juan Peron's first term in office.

General Videla hinged his action on the chronic inflation and high rate of unemployment that trailed Isabelita's government.

However, in Nigeria, a retired Army General calls the shots, even though the country still experiences symptoms of economic recession, mass unemployment, corruption and insecurity.

The Ejecrcito Revolcionario del Pueblo (ERP) and the Montotneros, took to kidnapping and killings. This plunged Argentina into crisis, in Nigeria, kidnapping and killings nad ritual killings have gone on unabated. 

Political pundits put the blame at the doorstep of the present administration.

Nigerians are worried that the government has done nothing noticeable to ensure that the country does not slip into anarchy.

In 2009, the Defense Minister of Madagascar, Cecile Manorantha resigned her appointment on the grounds that she would not continue to be a part of a government that kills its people.

Also, the people of Madagascar vigorously opposed the attempts by President Marc Ravalomanana to lease one million acres of their land in the South of the country to a Korean firm, Daewoo for intensive farming/ The people have deep ties with their land and consequently view the President's action as a betrayal.

The same scenario is playing out in Nigeria.

The insecurity in the land has made foreign investment impossible, while the disenfranchised and poor majority look in the gloomy future for reprieve.

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