The Controller-General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), Mr. Haliru Nababa has said that the Service was spending more money to feed its dogs than it was spending to feed the prison inmates.
Nababa made this disclosure on Thursday at the National Assembly Complex, during the 2024 Budget defence session with the joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Interior.
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He said that the Service had written the Minister of Interior requesting for the review of the amount they were using to feed the inmates from N750 per day, to N3,000 per day. He said: “We are still waiting for approval. We are, therefore, seeking the assistance of the National Assembly to approve the increment. “We have made provision for the feeding of inmates, dogs and staff on training in six training institutions across the country. “The money is grossly inadequate. The total number of inmates in 2023 is 81, 354 nationwide while 53, 352 are awaiting trial.
The budget for feeding each of them per day is N750 per day at N250 per meal, per inmate.” Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who is the Chairman of the joint Committee, wondered how the authorities of the NCS managed to feed the inmates with such a paltry sum going by the market prices of commodities in the country at the moment.
Oshiomhole further caused a stir when he asked the NCS team how much it costs them to buy the quantity of the foodstuff and ingredients needed to prepare the meal of a prisoner. “Our prisons are meant to correct the behaviours of the people.
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They are not condemnation centres. They are not to be dehumanised. How can you look us eye to eye and tell us that you feed a grown-up man in Nigeria with N750 a day? “One thing that has come out is that a yet-to-be-convicted Nigerian is being fed with N750 and you feed each of the dogs under your care with N800 per day.
So, a dog is better fed in the Nigerian prison than an innocent Nigerian in your custody,” he said.
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