Adibe Emenyonu
21 October 2008
Lagos — A close look at the Nigerian prison situated at Oko, a relative quite town along the Benin Airport road reflects decay. It tells the story of an institution that needed urgent rehabilitation. Unlike other prisons, fenced with a high wall, Oko is an open one surrounded by barbwires, which were held to the earth by concrete that are also in bad shape. One only needs to lift the wires to gain entry or exit out of the prison. Even at that, "the CCTV cameras that were installed in the prisons sometime last year are in bad conditions," Mrs. Teresa Idiake, Prisons Public Relations Officer, revealed.
This shocking revelation, THISDAY learnt may have been the propelling force that drove the 23 inmates of the prison to over power the officials and made good their escape to freedom in a jail break. At first, the information regarding the jail break was hazy as prison officials were not willing to make categorical statement on the escape of the prisoners until the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Dega confirmed the ugly development that one of the inmates had been arrested, while efforts were being made to comb the surrounding bushes in order to get at other fleeing prisoners.
"It is true that some inmates of the Oko Maximum Prison in Benin escaped. We have joined hands with the authorities of the prison to ensure that they are recaptured," the state police boss disclosed. "As at the moment, one of them has been recaptured, while detectives have been sent to get the remaining ones," he said. Giving this scenario, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Prisons, Edo State, Mr. Teresa Idiake was forced to admit that some prisoners actually escaped. She however said the number was not 23 as stated, but three and that the authorities have captured two while efforts are being made to apprehend the remaining one.
Be that as it may, THISDAY gathered that the escape seriously gave the prisons officials some worry because of the criminal profile of the fleeing inmates, who according a source, were mostly from the condemned cells and those having serious cases hanging on their neck. Following this, a police detective squad from the State Police Command and men of the State Security Service [SSS] were drafted to the prison to quiz some top officials of the prisons over their alleged involvement and to find out why security was unusually lapsed, a development that paved way for the easy escape of the inmates.
According to a source close to the maximum prison, the detectives were said to be surprise as to how the inmates unlocked the thick security iron protector of the prison before going wild. It was also learnt that some warders who tried to stop them were overpowered and seriously injured.
Although the outcome of the investigations by the combined team of security operatives still remained shrouded in secrecy, Mrs. Idiake while reacting to questions by newsmen gave an insight as to why the inmates were able to make ease their escape. She attributed the jail break to acute shortage of staff. She disclosed that only two of the prison staff were on duty during the escape.
While members of the public finds it very abnormal that only two staff should be manning a prison, especially at night, Idiake noted that it is not usual for two staff to be on duty because most of their staff had gone on one form of course or the other. Besides, she further disclosed that the prisoners escaped after successfully cutting the protector on the window, which was made possible by one of the inmates who was an iron bender before his incarceration.
The PRO said: "You know Oko prisons is an open one. It is only surrounded by barbwire. These wires which are held to the earth by concrete are in bad position. You have to lift the wires to gain entry or exit out of the prisons". Another stunning revelation on the rot that has characterised the prisons is the fact that the CCTV cameras that were installed in the prisons early last year are in bad condition. That is even when the authorities in Benin had written to Abuja for replacement with any response.
To many critical minds, the above issue calls for serious questions and answers because of the security implications and the national disgrace that prisoners can just make easy escape from prison custody at will. In the cause of investigation, it was also allegedly gathered that the escapee inmates new of all these security lapses and decided to cash in on it to escape. Even when the prisons officials claimed only three and not 23 escaped, and two of them arrested, there is no record up till date saying the remaining one has been arrested.
Even at that, one major question on the lips of those concerned is the lackadaisical attitude of government officials and the lack of maintenance culture, especially on physical infrastructure. THISDAY gathered that based on the recommendations of the investigation team from Abuja over the circumstances that led to the escape of the inmates, the State Comptroller, Abubakar Falke was abruptly redeployed. That to many is not enough because it did not in any way erase the fact that equipment installed last year, which suddenly went bad should have been giving accelerated repairs or replaced since it has to do with security.
A source close to authorities of the prisons told THISDAY, alleging that the non-response from Abuja regarding the cameras that went back arise from the fact that in the estimation of those in higher authorities, the cameras are supposed to be in good condition for a period of three years. What one can deduce from this is that either the cameras were deliberately damaged to pave way for that security breach or that an inferior cameras were installed in place of quality ones actually paid for.
Another deduction was the issue of shortage of personnel as raised by the PRO of the Prisons, where according to her, most of the staff as at the time the jail break took place, had gone on one form of course or the other.
This again raised serious issue of management by objective. Granted that the present administration of President Umar Yar'Adua place more premium on staff training and retraining, the prisons management should have scheduled its staff training in such a way it does not place serious constraints on the number of personnel that should at every point in time be on duty post to avoid the incident that took place Monday, September 22, 2008.
Last July, the Prisons authority embarked on a recruitment exercise. At that exercise, over 10,000 applicants were reported at the headquarters of Edo State Prisons Command. Based on this, newsmen met with the comptroller of prisons Edo State, Abubakar Falke who told journalists that 5000 persons were able to pass the first screening stage, which qualified them to be tested on their height before the endurance race and then the examination.
He said three categories of applicants were screened-Higher National Diploma (HND) holders for Inspectors, Ordinary National Diploma (OND) holders and National Certificate Education (NCE) holders for Assistant Inspectors and Prisons Assistants, which were made up of secondary school certificate holders and artisans.
Although confusion characterised the recruitment exercise as thousands of applicants for the employment examination in Benin on that Saturday protested their exclusion from the test as they accused Nigerian Prisons officials of scheming them out from writing the test in favour of their counterparts.
The protesting applicants told newsmen that they were made to run three kilometres to the point of writing the examination within a stipulated time, but were surprised that they met a locked gate when they got to the venue-Air Force Primary School-and discovered that some applicants were already sitting for the test, while a prison official told them that the examination had been postponed to next week.
According to those affected, they also met other group of applicants already writing the examination when they went back to the state headquarters of the prisons to complain about their experience at the venue of the test.
However, at the end of the day, some applicants scaled through in the exercise aimed at filling the yawning gap of staff shortage in prisons.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
