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The army said the jailbreak could be linked to the lack of Close Circuit Television Cameras coupled with the low perimeter fence at the facility.

The Nigerian Army has said that it wrote repeatedly to the Comptroller General of the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, warning of imminent dangers before the July 5, 2022 jailbreak.

The army said the jailbreak could be linked to the lack of Close Circuit Television Cameras coupled with the low perimeter fence at the facility.

The army made the revelation during the investigation instituted by the House of Representatives’ Joint Committees on Reformatory Institutions, Justice, Police Affairs, Interior, and Human Rights to ascertain the whereabouts of the 900 inmates who escaped from the prison during the jailbreak.

About 900 inmates escaped from the Kuje Correctional Centre following an attack launched by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.

The PUNCH reports that while speaking at the event in Abuja, the Army Assistant Director, Commercial Law, Army Directorate of Legal Services, Maj. Peter Ogbuinya, said that after the prison break, the army “observed that the place where Kuje prison is located is more of a built-up area.

“We observed issues of low fencing and a lack of CCTV cameras within the area, but these were unable to be put in place before the incident.”

Ogbuinya, who reportedly represented the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, further said that the army was only playing a complementary role to the correctional centres by way of assistance.

He said the army is not the only security agency deployed to Kuje prison.

He said, “The day it took place, we had a rotation of troops, and it was that day the incident took place. I wouldn’t want to comment on the possibility of having an insider.

“Prior to that incident, the Nigerian Army wrote a series of letters to the Comptroller General of the Correctional Service concerning our observations and things that would enhance security.

“We are still working to know if there are any soldiers who failed to do what they were meant to do within the military hierarchy.”

Also speaking during the event, the Assistant Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Philip Ayuba, asked the committee to look into how lawyers who are in the National Youth Service Corps could be engaged in providing services for prisoners.

Ayuba was quoted as saying: “We still have so many young men in prison; we are requesting that NYSC lawyers be sent to prison to look at some of the minor cases so that we can decongest the prison.”

He stressed the need for the adoption of alternative conflict resolution as a means of decongesting correctional centres in Nigeria.

He said, “We also suggest that those who have stayed more than a year or two should be given amnesty. They need to give the inmates better training so that those who leave can find better things to do.”

On his part, the Chairman of the House Committee on Justice, Olumide Osoba, said, “We found ourselves in an embarrassing situation in July 2022,” adding that there had been a lot of improvement at the correctional centre since its oversight.