The House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions has expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of work at the custodial centre headquarters in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
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The committee’s chairman, Chinedu Oga, made this known during their oversight visit to the state.
Ogah, who represents Ikwo/Ezza South Federal Constituency, said that the committee members were in the state to oversee the different custodial centres in the state to make recommendations to the relevant authorities to enhance professionalism and the welfare of the inmates.
The lawmaker noted that he has already communicated with the controller-general of the Correctional Services to direct the contractors handling the project to return to the site and ensure the completion of the project.
He warned that the House may be forced to ask the federal government to blacklist the contractors if they fail to heed the directives of the committee and return to the site.
The committee also paid a courtesy call on Governor Francis Nwifuru where Ogah revealed that 98 percent of inmates at various correction service centres across the country are state offenders.
He said the state offenders were contributing to the congestion of the centres and called for their de-congestion.
He said: “We have written to the Chief Justice of the Federation, we have written to Chief Judges of different states of the Federation. When you go round the correction service centres across the country, 98 percent of the inmates are state offenders while the remaining 2 are only national offenders and it is very necessary we do what we can to make sure we decongest the correction centre.
“On arrival in Ebonyi State, we visited Afikpo correction centre and we were able to pay the case file of 32 inmates which by God’s grace, the correction centre will start freeing the inmates from next week”, he said.
He lamented that some persons that have minor offences were not supposed to be in the correction centres but were remanded in the centres which he also said contributed to the congestion of the centres.
Ogah revealed that the National Assembly was doing everything possible to ensure that the amount approved for inmates which he said was no longer enough to feed them was increased by the President so that the inmates would be fed properly.
Responding, Governor Nwifuru said that to end insecurity and hunger in the country, leaders across the country must begin to engage and empower the youths to make them self-reliant and shift their attention from crimes and criminality.
Represented by the speaker of the State House of Assembly, Moses Odunwa, Nwifuru said that the state government is committed to reducing crimes in the state.
He noted that the state government has empowered thousands of youths to make them self-reliant and to enable them to channel their mind and energy towards more productive ventures.
He maintained that the state government has commenced the construction of a new custodial centre in the state to decongest the existing ones, adding that a law has been enacted by the Ebonyi State Prison that gives room for alternative dispute resolution law.
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