The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, says the Federal Government is considering the relocation of the old Keffi Medium Correctional Centre to the new place for efficiency.
Tunji-Ojo, who stated this during an inspection tour of the facility in Keffi, Nasarawa State on Monday, said that urbanisation had already caught up with it which would inform the relocation.
He recalled that the centre was established in 1820, which was well over 200 years ago and that at the moment the facility was even sharing fences with civilian buildings.
The minister said that the two correctional centres had over 1,500 inmates which was a huge number considering there size, especially the old one, adding that the development was not sustainable and not good enough for a correctional centre.
“The old centre now finds itself within the civilian buildings. To me, it is a serious security risk, especially for the people around the facility.
“Perhaps, we will be putting everything in motion so that we can relocate it and move it to the new correctional centre and use the facility for other purposes.
“May be as a muster institution for younger generations. So, overall we are trying to make our correctional centres not as business as usual,” he added.
Tunji-Ojo, who also inspected the ongoing construction of 3,000 capacity correctional centre at Karshi in Abuja, expressed satisfactions with the level of work done so far, urging the contractors to speed up for timely delivery.
He expressed optimism that by the time the project becomes functional, no doubt it would go a long way to address the problem of overcrowding and other problems experienced in other smaller facilities.
“This is the era of paradigm shift in ideology, from a place of incarceration to a place of transformation, from a place of reformation to a place of correction.
“Mind you, the 3,000 capacity is to be built across the six geopolitical zones in the country with the aim of decongesting the nation’s correctional centres and with a more fortified security measures,” he said.
He said this would address the external attacks on some nation’s correctional centres experienced in recent times by criminals. (NAN)
