NAN-H-145
Prison
Uyo, Feb. 7, 2017 (NAN) The Ministry of Interior and the Akwa Ibom Government have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on relocation and decongestion of
Uyo prison.
The Minister of Interior, Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, who signed for the ministry,
said the Uyo prison originally constructed to accommodate 600 inmates was now housing 900.
He lamented that the deplorable state of prisons across the country had stalled the smooth functioning of the facility as corrective centres.
The minister said the situation in Uyo prison called for expansion if the facility was
to render rehabilitation programmes to convicts.
Dambazau commended Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom for supporting
prison decongestion.
He said prisons were aimed at reforming convicts and inmates awaiting trial.
Gov. Emmanuel, who signed for Akwa Ibom Government, thanked the minister for
endorsing the partnership.
He described the MoU as “a bold step toward actualising prison decongestion
and rehabilitation of inmates.”
Emmanuel commended the minister for strengthening the existing bond of brotherhood and collaboration between the state and Federal Government in development agenda.
He said that the Uyo prison location was not in the best interest of inmates, as the facility was seriously being threatened by erosion and expressed fear that it might
collapse as the rainy season approached.
The governor then urged Federal Government to intervene in solving the ecological problems in the state to save lives and property.
The governor said that the low crime rate associated with the state was a pointer to the fact that Akwa Ibom people were peaceful and law abiding.
He assured the minister of continued cordial relationship and with other federal agencies and appealed for reimbursement of funds spent on federal assets in the state.
There was a donation of 15 hectares of land by Akwa Ibom Government to the
Nigerian Prisons Service as part of the MoU.
The land is to be used for the construction of a new prison complex to decongest Uyo prison. (NAN)
BB/HA
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Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu