The Controller of the Federal Correctional Service in Niger State, Alh. Muhammad Hamisu Isah, has appealed to the state governor, Mohammed Umar Bago, to alleviate the suffering of inmates by repairing broken-down boreholes in the facilities in the state.
Isah, who stated this at the Minna old Medium Security Custodian Centre, said the three boreholes are in bad shape and require attention to prevent a possible outbreak of an epidemic due to a shortage of water in the correctional facilities.
He lamented that, aside from some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and religious bodies that offered assistance to the inmates and the correctional centres, the state government has neglected them.
According to him, for the past two years, the three boreholes in correctional centres have broken down and all efforts to raise funds to repair them have failed. He subsequently appealed to individuals and corporate organisations to come to their aid to repair the facilities.
Decrying the ineptitude and insensitivity of the previous administrations in the state to the plights of inmates, he stated: “Some of these inmates are indigenes of the state, and it is painful and disturbing that successive administrations of the state have not been of help to the suffering of the inmates.
“We have been neglected by government. State governments owe a duty to support the correctional facility and the inmates in the custodial centres, but it’s quite unfortunate that some state governments deliberately refuse to extend support to correctional facilities in their respective states.”
