At least 119 prisoners have escaped a prison facility in Suleja close to Nigeria’s capital city, after a heavy rain downpour damaged the correctional facility.
A spokesperson for the medium-security jail, Adamu Duza, said in a statement on Thursday that the downpour, which lasted for several hours, destroyed the perimeter wall and neighbouring structures.
With the assistance of other security agencies, service agents were pursuing the fugitives and have been able to, so far, apprehended ten of them.
“We are in hot chase to recapture the rest,” stated Duza.
He then assured the public that the police were in control of the situation asking them to report any suspicious people as he said, “The public is further enjoined to look out for the fleeing inmates and report any suspicious movement to the nearest security agency.”
Prison breakouts have grown to be a serious security concern in the country, as overcrowding, underfunding, and inadequate security measures in these prisons have made the possibility of breaking out easy for inmates.
Due to poor infrastructure and terrorist attacks, thousands of prisoners have escaped in recent years. One such incident occurred in July 2022 when the Islamic State attacked a high-security prison in the capital Abuja, freeing some 440 prisoners.
Duza however said that this could be attributed to the state of the facilities, saying, “The Service is not unmindful of the fact that many of its facilities were built during the colonial era, and that they are old and weak.”
He went on to say that the agency is making “frantic efforts” to update its jail system, building six new facilities with a combined capacity of 3,000 and renovating the ones it already has.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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