Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Nigerian Senate, asserted on Tuesday that since the Nigerian Prisons Service was renamed the Nigerian Correctional Service, there have been more jailbreaks in the nation.
When a bill to modify the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act was being considered, Akpabio brought this up.
We have seen more jailbreaks since the title was adopted, the speaker said, adding that the purpose of laws is to punish and correct.
If you are found guilty and sentenced to prison, you should even be expected to acquire new skills and undergo an ethical reorientation, among other things. He was cited as saying, "It's not just that we call it a correctional center expressly, but we're not making any corrections.
In order to avoid repeating the error we made while naming the Correctional Services, he went on, saying, "I support the idea of having a thorough examination of the bill for the amendment to the RMAFC Act.
Since former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019 into law on August 15, 2019, the nation has seen at least ten jailbreaks. The previous name of the organization was the Nigerian Prisons Service.
In Nigeria, there were eight documented prison outbreaks in 2021–2022, which led to the flight of almost 4,000 prisoners.
Nationwide, there were five jail breakouts in 2021 and three in 2022. Following an attack by gunmen on April 5, 2021, 1844 prisoners broke free from the Owerri Correctional Centre in Imo State.
Four prisoners awaiting trial broke free from the Jos Custodial Center in Plateau State three months later on July 8, 2021. On September 13, 2021, more than 2400 prisoners broke out of the Kabba Correctional Centre in Kogi State.
Nonetheless, on October 22, 2021, gunmen stormed Oyo State's Abolongo Medium-Security Custodial Center. Back in Plateau State, on November 28, 2021, gunmen broke into Jos Correctional Centre and 262 prisoners managed to flee.
Government officials said that 262 prisoners were at loose and that nine prisoners had died. Three prisoners broke out of Mandala Custodial Centre in Ilorin, Kwara state, on January 2, 2022.
Three prisoners also broke out of Agbor Prison in Delta state, on May 13, 2022, after a downpour destroyed the prison's northern perimeter wall.
Once more, on July 5, 2022, 879 prisoners—64 of whom were terrorists—escaped from Kuje Prison in the Federal Capital Territory.
Following significant flooding that devastated the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Suleja, Niger State, 118 prisoners were forced to escape, according to the Nigerian Correctional Service's FCT Command in April 2024.