The Federal Government says it will deploy bullet-resistant guard booths (vehicles) in four custodial centres and the National Headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to forestall external attacks.
Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, while commissioning 39 duty escort vehicles, including mini green Maria and five bullet-resistant guard booths, at the weekend in Abuja, said the vehicles are meant to ease the movement of inmates to and from the courts, as well as to protect strategic duty posts from external attacks.
The minister said, “The guard-booths will therefore aid early threat detection and facilitate effective combat,” and would be deployed at the National Headquarters of the NCoS, Abuja, Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, and Maximum Security Custodial Centres in Port Harcourt, Kano, and Lagos.
Dr Tunji-Ojo also revealed the plan to relocate 29 correctional centres that have been overtaken by urbanisation and ageing out of the 256 in the country.
According to him, the relocation of these facilities is of utmost concern to the government, as this could breach public safety if those centres have been caught up by urbanisation, while a good number of them are already aged and hence cannot be left in their current state.
“We are relocating about 29 of our correctional centres that have been taken up by urbanization. For instance, Agodi Correctional Centre in Ibadan, the centre in Ikoyi, the Enugu Centre, which is inside the GRA (Government Reserve Area), the centre in Akwa Ibom close to the government house, and the Suleja facility.
“I applied for the relocation of some of these correctional centres, and the President graciously agreed for us to start the process,” he said.
Controller General of the NCoS, Sylvester Nwakuche, said that the newly acquired vehicles are to directly respond to the evolving challenges faced by the NCoS, particularly in ensuring the timely production of inmates in courts and the prevention of attacks on custodial facilities.
“As clearly outlined in the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019, one of our core functions is the ‘conveyance of remand persons to and from courts in motorized formations.’ These new additions to our fleet will significantly bolster our capacity to meet this critical aspect of our mandate,” the CG explained.
He pointed out that beyond enhancing inmates’ court attendance, the vehicles play a vital role in addressing the longstanding issue of Awaiting Trial Persons (ATP) in our custody.
He added, “As of Monday, February 17, 2025, our total inmate population stood at 80,066. Out of this number, 53,225, representing 66%, are pretrial inmates, while only 34% or 26,841 inmates are convicted inmates serving various terms. This large army of ATPs requires regular attendance to courts. With this strengthened fleet, we are poised to improve court attendance, thus playing our part in the swift administration of justice and contributing to the overall decongestion of our correctional facilities.”
Nwakuche added that the 39 operational vehicles were specifically procured for the safe and efficient transportation of inmates to and from courts and will be distributed strategically across commands based on identified operational needs and pressing demands.
He said, “In addition to the escort duty vehicles, there are five bullet-resistant guard booths. These guard booths are stationed at the National Headquarters, Abuja, Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, and Maximum Security Custodial Centres in Port Harcourt, Kano, and Lagos.
“These are meant to secure our custodial centres against external attacks and are equipped with long-range surveillance capabilities to protect against high-level threats, with resistance to 12.7mm Ammunition General Multi-Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) and other forms of dynamites and explosives.
“It should be noted that these bullet-resistant guard booths are indigenously built by EPAIL, a company based in Lagos,” he said
