The plan by the federal government to change the operational name of the Nigeria Prisons Service to Nigeria Correctional Service has generated reactions from Nigerians who are asking whether the development is akin to a new wine in an old wine bottle. ELEOJO IDACHABA writes.
The Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) is now to be called Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS). According to the federal government, this is in line with the need to reposition the agency to achieve efficient service delivery as against the erstwhile impression that prisons are punitive centres not meant for human habitation.
Announcing the change of name recently, the erstwhile senior special assistant to the president on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, said the bill was passed by the 8th Assembly, but came into force two months after the tenure of the assembly. “This Act repeals the Prisons Act and changes the name from Nigeria Prisons Service to Nigerian Correctional Service, otherwise known as Correctional Service,” he said.
According to him, the Act is subdivided into Custodial Service and Non-custodial Service.
Under custodial service, he said the law provides that while prisoners serve their jail terms, emphasis would be on correctional service tailored towards re-admitting them into the society upon the completion of the jail term.
This development, according to investigation, is long overdue considering the number of concerns raised by stakeholders and former inmates on the need to reform the prison systems in the country. This comes a few months after the indication to this was given in 2018 by the Lagos state controller of Nigeria Prisons Service, Mr Tunde Ladipo. He had said that Nigeria prisons were no longer punishment institutions rather reformative and correctional centres. According to him, the aim of establishing prison institutions in any part of the world, including Nigeria, is to reform, rehabilitate, and serve as correctional centres for inmates.
“The prison is a reformative centre; as a matter of fact, some of the inmates are educated, reformed and empowered. By the time they get out of the prison, they will be independent and be able to fend for themselves.
“In the prisons now, we have inmates who have been trained to become fashion designers, shoe makers, among other skills.
“In the education aspect, we have inmates who have gone beyond their Bachelor’s degrees; we have inmates with master’s degrees; we have inmates who are undergoing doctorate programmes as first of its kind in Nigeria; therefore, it shows that Nigerian Prisons Service is now a correctional centre,” Ladipo said.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who spent over three years in Yola Prison between 1995 and 1998 over his alleged involvement in a coup, had called for a general reforms in the prisons as soon as he was let off the hook because he had a first-hand experience of the ‘rot’ in the prisons. However, when fortunes smiled on him and he became president for eight years, he forgot to carry out the needed reforms in that sector. His experience is synonymous with the likes of the late Beko Ransome Kuti, Frank Kokori, Chris Anyawnu, Sule Lamido, and many other prominent Nigerians who had spent time across the nation’s prisons. With poor meals, hard labour, and the stigma associated with being an ex-convict, the need for reformation is sacrosanct.
Analysts are of the view that the nation’s prisons are largely centres of gross human rights abuses unequalled in any part of the world. The general consensus of opinion is that Nigerian prisons need various reforms to address the problems of congestion, overcrowding, improvement in the living conditions of inmates and ensure proper rehabilitation of inmates.
What has changed?
The question, however, is whether or not the change of nomenclature can bring to bear the needed change in the agency.
Speaking on this, a former controller of prison, Mr Uche Uwosu, said the change of name has a lot to do with prison reforms. According to him, “Changing the name from prison service to correctional centre is the first major reform the service needs. There is a form of resentment the former name carries that is antithetical to the aim of the service. It also discourages young persons from seeking career in the profession. That is the reason many applicants prefer sister agencies to the prison service. For me, that change of name has a lot to do with the identity of the agency.”
Speaking further with Blueprint Weekend via telephone, this Abia state-born former prison chief said, “The name is older than Nigeria’s independence; so in an age where constant reform is taking place, that name would have a lot to do with the negative perception the service has had over the years.”
He said in develop countries, offenders are not afraid of being sent to prisons because, “Prisons environments in those climes are friendly because of the various reform programmes put in place for inmates. It’s is like a recreational camp with all the facilities for the reformation of the mind. It is a direct opposite of what is obtained in Nigeria.”
“What needs to change about the prison system is the attitude of the personnel and the justice system,” said Barrister Oladimeji Bayo. While contributing to the debate, he said, “There is still something wrong with the whole thing. The problems of the agency begin right from the entire judicial system. What an accused goes through in the course of administering justice even before final pronouncement is enough scare for inmates. For instance, has the new Act taken into consideration the manner of adjudication in the courts? What about the inhumane manner persons on awaiting trials are brought into the courts by the prison officials? What about the general attitudes of the service personnel towards gratification from inmates in order to safe-guard their worth in detention? These are many issues that would come up. I think the entire gamut of the prison reform goes beyond nomenclature. In the coming days, those issues would come up; meanwhile, let’s see how the name change can correct certain things.”
A former inmate of Kuje Prison in Abuja, now a cleric, Evangelist Emmanuel Anzaku, told this reporter that the “Nigerian environment is not favourable for any kind of reforms in its public institutions except the top leadership of such institutions are prepared to embrace genuine change.” He also said when government “is finally ready to begin the correctional policy, clergymen should be involved. “What I noticed during my brief stay at the Kuje Prisons was mind- boggling. The change that service needs must commence from the top to bottom, especially from their training schools because it’s like young graduates of their training schools know the name of the game in many prison centres even before they graduate. Their curriculum also needs to be evaluated for correction,” he said.
Anzaku said applause should, however, go to faith-based organisations that throng prisons regularly to preach the word of God. “The whole idea about correctional centres would not be complete if the government does not incorporates the role of faith-based organisations into whatever they will do because their role is responsible for the little sanity one finds in prisons, otherwise inmates would come out worse than they entered. If you listen to the confessions of former inmates, you would appreciate the fact that preachers did a lot to change them. I am one of such. Before I was sentenced to prison in 1998, I wasn’t a serious Christian, but as the days pass by, some Christians began to visit the prisons with the word of God and I realised that I was drawing closer to God on a daily basis. That was how my regeneration started. Luckily for me, in 2014, I was granted amnesty instead of the initial 25 years. But before I even left Kuje Prison, I was already preaching to fellow inmates in the chapel there, so I give credit to the works of preachers who came there. To me, they should be at the centre of any correction government intends to do in the prisons.”
The Netherlands example
As Nigerians await government’s blueprint towards turning prisons into correctional centres, many people who spoke with Blueprint Weekend wants Nigeria to emulate the example of Netherland where that country shut down its prisons because the crime rates had drastically reduced.
According to a police officer attached to Mopol 24, who is simply called Maxwell, “I don’t really know much about the Netherland approach but all I know is that prisons are for offenders who are convicted by a court. Whenever the rate of crimes reduces, there would be no need for prisons but as long as people derive joy in committing crimes, the prisons would continue to build up. To that extent, Nigeria cannot adopt the Netherland approach as you suggested,” he said.
A graduate assistant at the University of Abuja, Chijindu Asogwa, the society breeds all the behaviour prevalent in the land. He noted that it is possible to replicate the Netherland example in Nigeria when fairness and social justice rules. “Take a look at every society with deviant behaviour, for instance, you would realise that there is some discontent with the manner the administration of justice system is carried out. That is the reason for some crimes you see. Initially, those crimes are harbinger of their resentment to certain things, but most times, the society does not understand it rather, it is further aggravated to a breaking point. In an environment where fairness and justice prevails, the crime rate would naturally reduce and that means the number of individuals on prosecution list would reduce. Prisons would be converted into open air theatre for relaxations and entertainment,” he said.
The Netherlands’ approach to prison matters means that government must be alive in its responsibilities towards the citizens so that the citizens in turn would reciprocate through obedience to the laws in the land.
