9th October, 2022
The Federal Government has declared all correctional facilities across the country red zones, following incessant attacks and jailbreaks in recent times.
The Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola said this when he was featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
Aregbesola said that the service now conducts periodic simulation exercises of attacks and responses in the riskiest facilities in the country.
He said that the service was also doing its best to prepare the operatives to respond to any such attack.
“Before the Kuje attack, regrettably, that was not done, but since the attack, we now have what we call periodic simulation of attack and response.
“So with that, I still want to say those who want to test our will might not live to tell the story.
“As far as humanly possible, we are improving, we are learning every day from our weaknesses and we are overcoming.
“We declared all our centers as red zones that whoever attempted to breach them will be risking his life, we still maintain that and we are reinforcing,” he said.
Aregbesola said, that Kuje correctional center was not breached for lack of security, stressing that Kuje had the best security even at the time it was breached.
He said that the service was improving on its weaknesses that led to the breach of the most fortified custodial facility in Nigeria.
The minister said the Nigeria Correctional Service now has the backing of high-powered armed agencies to support in defending the facilities.
According to him, the support of other armed security agencies will help to contain threats to custodial centers.
“Our facilities are now war fronts from what you have seen. We can no longer assume that threat to security in our facilities can only come from within as it used to be.
“Providing stations and bases to supportive armed agencies is to build up the security of our facilities,” he said.