The President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday, said that since the name of the Nigerian Prison Service was changed to Nigerian Correctional Service, there had been more jailbreaks in the country.
Akpabio made the assertion while speaking on the floor of the Senate, in his contribution during the consideration of two bills being processed for concurrence.
The bills for concurrence were one to repeal and re-enact the law establishing Revenue Mobilsation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, and another to repeal the Fire Service Act and enact Federal Fire and Rescue Service.
Also, contributing, the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, argued that there was no need to change the name, saying, “because the rescue component is already part of the responsibility of the fire service. I do not think there is a need for that.”
In his response, the President of the Senate said there is a need to examine such laws, said: “This is something to be looked at.
“When you are convicted, you are supposed to learn skill. But since we changed the name to the correctional centre, there have been more jailbreaks.”
In 2019, former President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the bill that changed the name of the Nigerian Prison Service to Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).
The law provides that the correctional service is split into the custodial service and non-custodial service.
In the non-custodial service, convicts are eligible for community service, probation, and parole.
Since Buhari signed the bill into law, more than 1,000 inmates have escaped from correctional centres across the country.
On April 25, 119 inmates escaped from the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Suleja, Niger state, following a downpour.
