We’ll Relocate Ikoyi Prison – Interior Minister

The Federal Government is considering relocating the Ikoyi, Suleja and other correctional centres across the country because they are too close residential communities, which negates the 100-meter space gap stipulated by law.

Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, stated this in an interview on Channels TV while lamenting the state of Nigerian prisons.

“In Ikoyi, a correctional centre shares a fence with another house,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to have a prison there. This administration is thinking about moving some of these correctional centres.”

Tunji-Ojo stressed that areas around correctional facilities are meant to be as clear as possible for security security reasons.

He added: In Suleja, the correctional centre is only seven meters away from the nearest house, but the law says there should be 100 meters of space. This shows how much the city has grown into the area.”

The Minister also commended President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to revamping the 256 dysfunctional correctional centres his administration inherited.

“Under this administration, we haven’t had any jail attacks; the only problem was at Suleja, which happened because that correctional centre was built in 1914. It’s about 110 years old now,” Tunji-Ojo said while admitting that the problems could not be fixed in one year.

According to him, more than ten prisons have been renovated so far.

On the issue of congestion in the prisons, he assured that the government will soon start checking all correctional centres to find and release people who should not be there.