The Nigerian Correctional Service says work is progressing on the 3,000-capacity modern custodian centres being built in Abuja, Kano and Rivers States.

The spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Abubakar Umar, who spoke to newsmen on Thursday, said the Kano facility would be ready and inaugurated before the end of the administration of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, had last year said the ministry targeted December 2022 to deliver the custodial centres being built in Kano, Rivers and Abuja.

Aregbesola, after a facility tour of the 3,000-capacity ultramodern Custodial Centre, Karshi, Abuja in September 2022, said inmates in unsuitable facilities would be moved to the new facility upon completion of the projects.

Then, the minister said the facility in Kano was almost complete while the ones in Rivers and Abuja had reached 55 per cent completion.

When asked for an update on the status of the custodial facilities, the NCS spokesman, Umar, said lack of funding and high inflation had delayed the projects.

He said, “The 3000-capacity custodial centres located in each of the geo-political zones in Nigeria are in various stages of completion. The one located in Janguza, Kano State, is 95 per cent completed and will be inaugurated before 29th May 2023.

“The ones located in Karshi, FCT and Bori, Rivers States, are at various stages of completion. For instance, the one in Karshi is 75 per cent completed, with work going on round-the-clock at the sites.

“The reasons for the delays are not unconnected to paucity of funds as well as rise in inflation.

“These facilities are mega and consist of utilities like courts, schools, vocational training workshops, recreational facilities, and other infrastructure. However, the service is not resting on its laurels to see to the completion of these facilities soon.”Most of the correctional centres in the country are congested, as the number of inmates are beyond their holding capacities.

Stakeholders blame the situation, partly, on the snail’s pace of criminal cases in courts.

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