CONTENT

LETTERS

Let us be more security conscious

Letter of appreciation

COVER STORY

The Reformer – Seven years of driving Prison Reforms

NEWS

Minister of Interior visits burnt prison in Maiduguri

Dr Mustafa promises to push for Prison reforms

PHQ Complex will be occupied in December

Prison Staff College pass out 250 master reformers

Report on PWIS workshop

Families of dead staff receive succour

National Open University partners with the Nigerian prisons service

New helmsmen at the Interior Ministry as Gen Abbe becomes Defence                                                                                              Minister

Nigeria Shines in Geneva

NPS partners with UNODC

First year undergraduates matriculate in Medium Security Prison                                                                                               Kirkiri

Otukpo Connection

Shagaya Commends Ogundipe

 

FEATURES

Decongestion of the courts and prisons: the way out

Government, the Prison and the Society

Road Safety and Vision 20-2020: the task before the FRSC

Oral Health: Gateway to general health

Exam Malpractices: Fraudsters’ free rein marring quality

ESSAY

Nigerian Prisons Service and the 7-point Agenda

SPORTS

NPS Volleyball team participated at the 2009 Men African ClubVolleyball Championships, Cairo Egypt

POEMS

Elegy for DCP, Ndubuisi Nwakuche 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LETTERS

LET US BE MORE SECURITY CONSCIOUS OF INMATES IN THE PRISON YARDS

It is a fact that a nation without security is one without a foundation. When this impression becomes worrisome, what comes first to the mind of people is the establishment of Prisons.

This is because Prison department is a veritable citadel for security of any nation wishing to achieve meaningful developments.

Today, Nigeria as a nation has a Prison department which is run by trained able men and women who are charged with the tasks of safekeeping and rehabilitation of inmates. but, it is mind-boggling with bitterness among people in the public whenever a jailbreak occurs in prisons. Their ostensible believe is that Prison officers are always the cause of this ugly phenomenon.

Being it as it may, I am not here to toss blame but candidly give out words of advise that can save Prisons from public denigrations, henceforth. So the aphorism that “what is worth doing is worth doing well”, should be the watch word of all of us as Prison officers, and with this in view, I wish to say, specifically, that since prison gate is the first theatre where all legal procedures about security are carried out, the keepers should eschew lackadaisical spirit of performing the duty and adhere strictly to its management rules. This is because an error made here can change to a problem in the yard and put its peaceful atmosphere in jeopardy.   

Again, inmates on daily work at the workshop or kitchen should not be left out in this regard. They should always be subjected to total control and all kinds of searching after work to forestall the influx of dangerous items in the cells.

The Chief-Warder and yard-Master should consider themselves as foremen in the field of work. The latter should see his position beyond administering visits and be more proactive in the daily supervision of officers on duty, regular testing of rods in the mornings and \maintenance of the entire yard. 

It should be remembered too that security of inmates in the yard can be attained if they are fed well as well as allowed to enjoy legal advantages given them by the authority since immemorial. Thus, their propensity to breaking down yard rules and regulations binding on them can be dissuaded if this allowed to serve.

More so, our nauseating tendency to go Awol, come late to duty, leave beat without a proper taking and handing over process or incongruous sleep while on duty breaks the wheel of security. We should know that inmates use this as a calculated chance to perfect their sinister act against the authority. Hence, let us be on the alert and handle our duty as an utmost priority at all times since security is our repertoire.

Meanwhile, if inevitable a momentary lapse results in trouble, propelling a violent clash between inmates and officers and escape of inmates is imminent, Armed squad members on duty should be signalled promptly to save the situation. Regarding this, I want this formidable unit to redouble its efforts in keeping the Prison yard under constant surveillance.

In this sense, let us also at all times resist being pliable, give information of act of depravity of inmates to the appropriate quarter for quick actions and in fact continue our usual practice of collective effort in sustaining security of the yard irrespective of our section, unit or beat.

Purposefully, if all these, coupled with others not mentioned here are done relentlessly, will serve prisons relieved stance on jailbreaks, since the nation’s security power lies on Prison.

 

Ikhidero Lucky, IP

Ubiaja Prison, Edo State

 

LETTER OF GRATIFICATION

I wish to say thank you, Oga, for your immense contributions to the development of the department, especially from this noble magazine.

You are a visionary leader. Oga, we are really happy. Sp, may this work earn you more promotions, long life and prosperity.

Keep it up, sir and God bless you and your family forever.

 

Thanks

Yours faithfully,

Lucky Ikhidero

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COVER STORY

THE REFORMER – SEVEN YEARS OF DRIVING PRISON REFORMS

The strategic section that was held in the Research and Publications on that February Tuesday on 2001 was as exhaustive of the details of the problems of the Prisons Service as it was inundated with many clues as to which way to go next. The dilemma of the group of young officers who sat through the long hours of brainstorming was how to unravel the contradictions that are the lot of the Nigerian Prisons Service.

On the one hand is an institution saddled with the responsibility of preserving the internal security of the Country by keeping troublemakers in safe custody so that other Nigerians could sleep with their two eyes closed. But on the other hand, there is also an institution with such strategic mandate wasting away in profound squalor and lethargy. Its personnel were the most discouraged in the country. Their pay was poor, their working environment squalid, their barracks, glorious ghettos. In fact in every material particular, the prisons and the prison officers were relegated to the backwaters of social existence. Yet the Service had a strategic mandate which went beyond just keeping inmates but also reforming them and returning them to rectitude after their times.

It secured such a tall order to expect that staff who are so marginalised and traumatised by reason of their being prison officers could change a prisoner. In fact, in many prisons, the prisoners were better accommodated than the staff. Such was the dilemma of the Nigerian Prisons Service that the assembled officers decided that the time had come to part with the past: the time had come to show a clean pair of heels to this contradiction.

It was however, easier to argue on what was wrong wit ht eService than it was to agree on agree on what steps to take to remedy the situation. While some blamed the government of the day for being insensitive to the plight of the prisons Service and the need to empower the Service to perform even better, others were of the view that the fault in the Service majority of whom are educationally handicapped and therefore could not rise to give the desired leadership and direction. There were still others who felt that the rot in the Service was traceable to its colonial past coupled with what the subsequent governments made of the Prisons. In fact the point was poignantly made that it was a consistent policy of the Military Governments to make the prisons dark and drab in order to punish opponents to no end.

No matter. The consensus was that given the new democratic dispensation and the realisation that Military rule in Nigeria can never take place at least in the foreseeable future, the time was ripe to push for the reform of the Prison in order to create a prison system that is consistent with the democratic aspirations f the new Nigeria.

How to do it? It was acknowledged that the men of power do not even know much about the role of Prison in a democratic state. It was pointed out that even Prison officers themselves do not all seem to know the role they are expected to play in governance. It was agreed that if even the officer does not know what his role is, how can he convince the others?

It was therefore decided that there must be a push for prison reforms through the strategic engagement of Civil Society Organisation to draw attention of the government to the contradiction posed by the Prison system so the democratic posting of the emergent political class. The officers who assembled for this review have also been involved with this type of campaigns in their previous tours of duty. It was therefore not difficult to engage the Civil Society Organisations in this initiative. This thinking culminated in the DFID-sponsored First Civil Society Dialogue n Prisons Reforms which took place in February 2002.

The other platform that will be used it was agreed was to launch a grand public relations blitzkrieg on the Nigerian society so that both the high and mighty will come to terms with the social elements for a functioning prisons system if the new emergent democracy is to be protected and sustained.

A year later, the research officer had come to this same conclusion and made a memo to the effect that a newsletter should be produced to serve the twin purpose of educating on the roles and functions of the Prisons and drawing attention to the poor state of the Service in toto. This agreement provided the needed impetus for the research and publications unit to proceed with the production of The Reformer

No doubt, there were those who were opposed to the production of The Reformer and these constituted the initial hiccups for the Magazine but the truth remains that by July 2002, the First edition of The Reformer was launched at the pulling-out ceremony of the then Controller-General of Prison Alhaji Ibrahim Jarma. That first edition was primarily dedicated to the reading public. It went to town with the functions of the Prisons, the profile of the Service including the vertical and horizontal description of the administrative structure of the Prisons as well as making a case for the incorporation of the Prisons in all security meetings nationwide.

The second edition of The Reformer also drew attention to the slopy handover of Black Maria vehicles by the police according to teh subsisting presidential order. It drew attention to the less-than-honest attempt by the Police to cripple the court Escort duty delivery capacity of the Nigerian Prisons Service by handing over few rickety Black Maria vehicles out of the thousands at their disposal.

The Reformer was in the forefront of the problems the prosecution of cases will face given that in many States of the Federation, suspects were, as a result, being ferried to court on Okada (motorcycles) and commercial buses with all the attendant security implications of such moves.

The edition called for massive release of funds to enable the prison serve and acquire the needed vehicles to take suspects to court as t and when due.

That the government finally released funds for the procurement fo these vehicles is the result of this persistent campaign for the empowerment of the court escort duty potentials of the Nigerian Prisons Service.     

The second edition featured the reports on the pull-out of Alhaji Jarma, the appointment of Mr Ibrahim Akpe mni as the new CGP. Yet it made a case for an understanding of National security construct as a point where the Nigerian Prisons Service plays the role of safekeeping national security and combating crime and criminality. This edition was all about making a case for the centrality of the role of the Prison in the promotion of National Security and preventing and controlling crimes.

In February 2002, as stated earlier, the Civil Society Service dialogue with the Prisons took place. In that programme attention was drawn to the role of prisons in National Security and the need to reposition the Service to a position where its objectives could be accomplished to the satisfaction of Nigerian people. The contribution of the NPS was a paper titled “The State of Nigerian Prisons Service”. It was a graphic, pictorial essay on the infrastructural state of the NPS which the world expected to perform the miracle of reforming the prisoners. This paper formed the key essay in the 3^rd edition of The Reformer and although it was till black and white, the effect of the essay on the reading public was profound.

And rather fortuitously, the edition also carried a news story on the 2^nd term of President Obasanjo. There we reported that despite the reports of rigging and all, that the country was able to transit from one democratic regime to the other for the first time since the beginning of the ‘world’. The story, no doubt, was of interest to the then President, so much so that when he had a meeting with Dr Iyorchia and Mr Akpe, copies the magazine were presented to the President. Quite naturally he read the story of his transition from one Civil Rule to another and then to the State of Nigerian Prisons. Sources close to the Presidency said that after reading the article, the President ordered an immediate release of funds to rebuild the NPS. From then onwards the Nigerian Prisons Service was to be at the receiving end of the encouragement of the Federal Government to reform and transform.

Meanwhile, the strategic Think-Tank set up by the Jarma Administration was not done with the efforts to transform the Nigerian prisons Service. To this end, contact was made with the DFID, Access to Justice on areas of collaboration with the Nigerian Prisons Service in order to move the latter forward. After months of brainstorming and planning, DFID was to help organise the first ever special retreat for very senior Prisons officers. The Retreat which took place at the mid-way Hotels Makurdi Benue State in September 2003 was a summit of exceptional dimensions which had only one motive – how to change the face of the Prisons in Nigeria.                   

All senior Prisons officers from across the country from the rank of Controller were in attendance, except for a few who were not in the country then. It was the first time since the creation of modern NPS that a summit of that kind was to hold. And the mission was quite simple – to find out what has tended to militate against the NPS, while the strategic team of the NPS was present, DFID Access to Justice invited a team of experts from the International Centre for Prison Studies, University of London and others from he Penal Reform Initiative (PRI) who were on hand to join the Strategic Think-Tank from the Nigerian Prisons to constitute the Resource Persons for the two-day summit.

The summit lasted for just two days but it was two days of discourse. First was the presentation of the Controller-General’s 7-point Agenda for moving the Service forward. Then followed a series of critical examination of all attitudes, conventions, practices and traditions that will hinder the achievements of the goals of the 7-Point Agenda, Mr Akpe urged participants to feel free to air any view that they think could help the attainment of the goal of the summit. And air the views they did.

In the last edition of this magazine I brought to you, my esteemed readers, my Seven-Point Agenda for moving the Prisons Service forward. That paper means so much to me. It is the Road-chart for my administration. It is also an instrument for measuring the success or lack of it in my effort to move the Service forward. It is also a tacit acknowledgment on my part that a lot needs to be done in the Prisons Service not only to modernise it but also to reposition it to serve the needs of Nigeria and humanity.

To underscore my administration's commitment to the cause of changing the face of the prisons we had in interactive retreat for very senior prison officers in Makurdi in September, 2003. The retreat which was sponsored by the Access to Justice Programme of the British Development for International Development (DFID) managed by the British Council has as its theme "we can make the difference" which recognised the fact that the human factor in the prison can make the difference in terms of what becomes of the Prisons Service in the years ahead.  

Believing that the retreat is one opportunity in a life-time to change the prisons, officers were urged to be frank and forthright in their deliberation. And what a heated session it turned out to be! On product of this retreat was the agreement by all the officers that we should ignore the constraints facing us as a Service and proceed to make the difference through:

i.      Humane Containment of prisoners

ii.     Promotion of good penal practices

iii.    Reform-focused administration

iv.    Management guided by objectives

v.     Trickle down positive administrative style

To this end, and for the first time in the history of the Prisons Service in Nigeria, a Vision/Mission Statement that will guide the organisation and our officers was adopted by the conferees. This is intended to be a guide to all Prison officers in the pursuit of excellent service delivery.  A copy of that Vision/Mission Statement is produced hereunder.

As you read through this edition of the Reformer I want to assure you that you are watching history being made. I can assure you that it will not be long before you will say it is no longer business as usual in the Nigerian Prisons Service.    

Other issues discussed were Awaiting Trail phenomenon, managing a curse and how to improve efficiency through the strength and skills of staff. In Awaiting Trial phenomenon in the prison, officers were led through the records of the operations of the Prisons in the past to show that the upsurge of awaiting trial persons in the prisons was not part of the normal prison landscape but rather a product of a dysfunctional criminal Justice prosecution mechanism which in itself is a function of a malfunctioning social structure.  Officers were therefore urged to rise up and be innovative in this direction and provide the leadership that the Criminal justice System desperately needs. 

On the issue of utilising the strength and skills of staff, a poser was thrown that when the Prison Service had less qualified manpower both in terms of numbers and quality it was able to reform inmates and had an excellent service record. Now that the Service manpower of divers types and specialities, the story wreaks of putrefaction and squalor. While admitting that factors external to the were responsible for the development, Dr Orakwe argued that the fault was mainly that of Prisons Officers themselves. He urged that particularistic considerations played a part in the recruitments, training, development, promotion and reward of officers so much so that now professional competence had taken second place to gratify in the needs of power players outside the Service and wondered how the Service could be expected to deliver on its statutory responsibilities in these circumstances.

In the light of all these presentations, the syndicate groups (9 in all) went into the various sessions to discuss various issues raised and cone up with programmes for the reform of the system. The experts from both the Penal Reform International as well as from the International Centre for Prison Studies University of London, namely Messrs Paul English, Jim Haines, Derek Ham and Access to Justice's David Brown were all on hand to direct, prod, enliven the debate and generally add pep and enlightenment to the discussion.

The discussions were quite as in-depth as the resolutions were far reaching. Every participant from the Controller-General down agreed that there was need for change in the prisons. But one thing is sure; officers resolved that they cannot continue the way they were going and therefore called for a change in the system. The summary of the Resolutions of the retreat is served you in this edition together with the Vision/Mission Statement. Other and more salient resolutions will be served you in our subsequent edition.

The summit ended by noting that the Prisons faced problems that were both internal and external. It agreed that the external problems constituted only 20% of the problems of the Service while the other 80% were internal and self-inflicted. While the summit urged the Federal Government to address the 20% of the problems the which had to do largely with proper funding and modernised legal framework for operations, it called on the heads of the NPS then and in the future to work towards removing the obstacles that stood in the way of organisational growth.

One remarkable feature of the summit was the production by popular participation a Vision and Mission Statement for the Service which was later produced by the DFID’s Access to Justice Programme and distributed to all Prison formations across the country. It should also be noted that the production and distribution of the Service Vision and Mission Statement took the Federal Civil Service made it cardinal part of Service under the Service construct.

In all these developments, The Reformer was not only participant, it was also a conveyor of the god tidings to every nook and cranny of the Prisons Service and beyond. The Markurdi Retreat and its antecedents were properly documented in the 4^th edition of The Reformer. But it did not stop there. As stated before, the then President, after coming face to face with graphic details of the squalor in the Service, approved what was then called a Presidential lifeline for purchase of drugs and stores, for the procurement of escort duty vehicles and for the beginning of infrastructural development of the Service. As we also stated before the period marked a poor-military rule reconfiguration of the Prisons system in Nigeria that has continued ever since.

The 5^th edition of The Reformer not only reported these developments with but went on to inform on the Agenda setting construct for Prisons reforms. The edition acknowledged the developments listed above including the picture of the proposed Prisons Headquarters which contracts were signed within the period but it was quick to point out that all that had happened was Agenda setting construct for Prisons Reforms but was not yet Reforms. This is because, in line with what was said in Makurdi, Prisons Reforms will go beyond re-painting of walls. Prison Reforms will be an earth-quaking phenomenon. 

While the Political Reform conference was on, The Reformer not only presented a researched presentation on the NPS making it one of the Institutions that was in dire need of transformation, it went ahead to go public with the presentation which came out in the 5^th (vol 1, No 5) edition as the Main essay with the title Case for Prisons Reforms.

In this same edition, a case was made for the deplorable condition of the Escort duty fleet in the Prisons Service drawing the lessons we learnt and highlighting the implications of not having in place a functional escort duty fleet for the Nigerian Prisons service and for human rights in the emergent democratic dispensation among others

 

Yet The Reformer reported these developments as pointers to where the Prison was headed.

The gains made by the Nigerian Prisons Service in the process leading up to 2005 were put in temporary jeopardy when the Service came face to face with the consequences arising from years of not doing what ought to be done. Or put differently, the inability of the Nigerian Prisons Service hierarchy to quickly implement some of the key resolutions of the Makurdi Summit expressed itself in the catastrophic attack on four major prisons in the country within a space of two months as Ogwashi-Uku, Port-Harcourt, Abeokuta and Sokoto prisons went up in orgy of flames and fire that not only led to the loss of lives and limbs and the destruction of government property but also to the loss of some prison jobs principal of which was that of the Controller-General of Prisons.

All these developments led The Reformer to come out with screaming headlines to the effect that:

A Season of Madness. The National Security Goal-Keeper comes under Siege as Ogwashi-Uku, Port Harcourt, Ikoyi, Auchi, Abeokuta and Sokoto Prisons explode.   

These tragic developments led to Mr Akpe stepping aside and Mr O. U. Kalu stepping in as acting Controller-General. It was a period of gloom as the NPS was not prepared for the shock treatment it received that year. But in the midst of that confusion, The Reformer was always calm and strategically from the Office of the Controller-General of Prisons was as prophetic as it was assuring:-

Dear Readers,

        As you read this copy of the Reformer, you are reading the  history of the Nigerian Prisons Service in motion.  The Nigerian Prisons Service is not only making news, it is news.

        Never in the history of Nigeria has the Prisons, the National Security Goal Keeper come under such severe and intense siege.  Starting with Ogwashi-uku and Port-Harcourt prisons jail breaks, events in around the Prisons have acquired a momentum of their own, bumping and skidding down the slopes of time, with no one knowing what the end will be.

        But I want to assure you that recent developments in the Nigerian Prisons Service may not be entirely very pleasant but in the long run the Nigerian Prisons Service will come out of the experience more refined, more reformed and well positioned to serve Nigeria and Nigerians better.  And that is the Prison Reforms.  Do not be fazed by what we have gone through.  It takes this type of trying by fire to get refined gold.  The Nigerian Prisons Service is no exception.

        As we go through this very testy times, my admonition to all prison officers every where is to hold on to their time-tested dignity in the face of all these challenges. I am sure that no matter what comes up at the end of the day, we shall be glad we passed through this way. So hold on to your beats, preserve our heritage and keep the flag flying by returning to the rule-based prison administration. Tough times don't last but tough people do.

The 6^th edition (Vol 2, No 1) of the magazine tried to put all the developments in perspective and was able to analyse the causal elements of these riots with clinical detachment. It also announced to setting up of the Omu Panel and Alemika Committee on Prisons reforms showing that Prisons reforms are yet way off.

In its 7^th edition, The Reformer announced the arrival of the reform train as Mr Ogundipe emerge the Controller-General of Prisons. And what are the passengers of the reform train? The magazine faithfully gave as follows

-      On-line payment of salaries

-      Computerisation of Service Records

-      Federal Public Service Reforms

It seemed as if all of a sudden forces of unknown strength converged on the Prisons Headquarters thirsty for blood. First the Controller-General announces that his administration will be IT driven especially in the areas of staff remunerations. This announcement makes it seem as if he touched a tiger by the tail. This is because there were those who felt that it was their time to shine and IT payment will truncate their plans. They actually mobilised to put paid to it. Buit while they were at it, Mallam El Rufaim the then FCT Minister and Head of the Public Service Reform Team arrived at the Ministry and gave guidelines for manpower reforms. The hunter became the hunted.

From the editorial of the 7^th edition (Vol 2, No 2) captured it like this:

Dear Reader,

You will recall that in our 5th edition, we alluded to the fact that what w were doing was just working on the agenda setting construct for prison Reforms and that was all were serving you. Nothing else. In our 6th edition when the Prison came under very intense fire, we said that the change in leadership was only a pointer to the desired change in the Service and not the desired changes themselves.

Now it all happened all at once! Minister of the FCT Malam Nasir El Rufai called early June to announce the arrival of the Reform Train at he Ministry of Internal Affairs and by implication the Prison Service. While the implication of this visit by the Chairman of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms to the Ministry of Internal Affairs were being contemplated, Onitsha prison came under murderous attack for the second time. And the Federal Government moved.

Mr O. A. Ogundipe, mni was finally appointed the new CGP out of the lot that were involved in the fierce contest for the office, thus ending the rat race. Almost at the same time the Bureau for Public Service Reforms now headed by the irrepressible FCT Minister, started breathing and spitting fires of public service Reforms. Several phrases have assumed some form of currency in this period. These phrases are Restructuring, Downsizing and Rightsizing and so on. Now the momentum of reform is in motion, apparently unstoppable. No doubt the Prisons Service will be the main beneficiary but some people will certainly be adversely affected.

We serve the details of these phantasmagoric developments in motion in this edition. They may not be so palatable to everyone, but they are news.

This edition also marked the beginning of the presentation of time-tested papers on the technical complex role of the Nigerian Prisons Service in the field of Resource management. These papers which will run for four or-more editions will feature papers presented on the variants of this topic by the Controller-General of Prisons Mr O. A. Ogundipe, OFR, mni at the various executive course session of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru.

From all indications, The Reform Train had berthed at the Nigerian Prisons Service finally. The first indications that the reform is real is the new administration’s refusal to have anything to do with black- and-white Reformer. There was this insistence on its part that anything worth doing was worth doing well. So case was made for a colour based magazine. Before this time, the production of The Reformer was pegged at a zero tolerance level as saying “produce what you can but this is what we think you need.”

So the 8^th edition of The Reformer came out in colour. But the news carried was not so colourful. The reform train had finally berthed and close to two thousand two hundred and twenty-five (2,225) officers had been axed. The other three thousand (3,000) rightsized. It also carried the news about the aborted 5-Directorate structure of the Nigerian Prisons Service which came about as a result of the restructuring that was recommended for the Prisons. But it was not to be.

But the on-line payment of salaries was making progress despite several challenges. Computerisation of records had also started in earnest and the NPS website receiving attention. We also reported the launch of the aftercare mechanism on a grand scale as well as the launch of the Pioneer Consumer Car Finance Scheme through which 500 officers received tear-leather cars from the Federal government for the first time in a quarter of a century. So it was all bad news. From the editorial of this edition sums it up this way:

The last three months have been very hectic for the Nigerian Prisons Service. The Reform of the Service had taken center stage, virtually eclipsing other activities. Yes, it has always been our prayer that the face of the Nigerian Prisons should change for the better. When we saw the signs of this change, two editions ago, we informed you, dear readers, but we were also quick to note that those were mere signs of the expected changes but not the Change.

Now the changes have come, courtesy of these Public Service Reforms and with them came the inevitable pains of reform and restructuring.  Some staff have lost their jobs; others have been right sized. It is as if the reform of the Service is all about pain and sorrow.

But is it? There are, no doubt, some positive aspects in  these developments. A new structure has  been put in place ; an elite officer corps with the required intellectual profile to pursue Corrections, has  been created to move the Service forward. The stage is now set for the Prisons Service to be released from its perennial doldrums into the realms of modernity. That, of course,  has been the prayer of  stakeholders in our sector for more than two decades.

These prayers have  been answered at a great  cost. But they   are worth the price.

As you read through this edition you will no doubt be reading the history of the transformation of the Nigerian Prisons Service, in motion.

As the nation was celebrating another milestone of a civil to civil transition after a democratic dispensation which saw President Obasanjo handing over to President Yar’adua, despite the shortcomings of the electoral process, the NPS was reviewing Ogundipe’s one year in office. The 9^th edition of The Reformer not only carried the story of development, appropriately tagged Changing Faces: Changing Phases, it also reported the emergence of the first ever female speaker of the House of Representatives in Mrs Felicia Etteh.

It also did a review of the Obasanjo legacies in the Justice Sector and urged the new President to continue from there. And the President has done just that with General Abbe emerging as the new Interior Minister armed with his zero tolerance for sloppiness, the years ahead would prove the assertion that reform has eventually started in the NPS.

It also reported the 2^nd Senior officer retreat which took place at Ada in a bid to fashion the road to Prisons reforms. It also reported the strategic team that headed to Kuru to create the blue print for the evolution of a Service we can all be proud of. All these developments are cognizant of the Makurdi declarations that 80 percent of what is wrong with the Nigerian Prisons Service are self-inflicted.    

 

NEWS

MINISTER OF INTERIOR VISITS BURNT PRISON IN MAIDUGURI

By Idris Abba Disa (ASP)

 

The minister of Interior, Dr Shettima Mustapha who arrived at the New Prison Maiduguri, on Friday, the 7^th of August 2009 was accompanied by the Borno State Deputy Governor, top Ministry officials, the Comptroller General of Immigration, Deputy Controller General of Prisons and the Commandant General of the Civil Defence Corps.

The minister and his entourage were led by the Controller of Prison, Borno State Command, Alhaji Usman A. Maina Kaina, who took them round the burnt prison. In his opening remarks, the Controller said, Boko Haram sect invaded and burnt the prison and as a result about 351 inmates fled but, 88 of them were apprehended as at the time of making remarks. He also said 5 men of the Service lost their lives. While, 11 men were hospitalised. However, 8 of them were later discharged.

In his remarks, the Minister condoled the officers on the loss of their colleagues and also, commiserated with them over the trauma they went through as the Boko Haram carnage lasted. He also charged parents not to be weary of monitoring their children and that, the responsibility of bringing up the child lies on parents. The Minister who could not hide his sober feelings with the way and manner young people were made to destroy their education certificates as a mark of pledging allegiance to the leader of the benighted Boko Haram sect, prayed for those that that lost their lives and properties as a result of the crisis.

On a lighter mood, the Minister reminiscence his 12 months experience at the new prison in 1984, during the Military junta. He talked on how he was detained, the drama and, how he was detained, the drama and, how he was subsequently appointed by the same administration to serve as Minister of Agriculture, after he was probed and found not guilty of misappropriation.

The visit also took him to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital where he sympathised with the victims of the carnage.

Finally, he assured men and officers that, he would make all necessary report and advice to the government, with a view to restore the prison back. He congratulated and implored officers and men of the Service to continue with the good work they are doing.

 

DR MUSTAFA PROMISES TO PUSH FOR PRISON REFORMS

The new Minister of Interior, Dr Shetima Mustapha at the weekend, recalled with a deep sense of regret how he was unjustly incarcerated in prison for 12 months during the prolonged military rule in the country. For that reason, he promised to push for prison reforms.

Stating that he did not go there as a criminal, the minister explained that as a top government functionary, he was unjustly accused and detained after a military coup in the country, but was later discharged and acquitted.

The period of his incarceration, he said enabled him to acquire more experience, which he believed would assist him in his new assignment as Interior Minister, who is concerned  with the issues of internal security amongst other problems confronting the country.

Reasoning that there had been reasonable improvement in the nation’s prison systems, the minister said he was quite familiar with the problems of the Service some of which were still as fresh as when he was imprisoned many years ago. He vowed to bring his experience to bear with a view to solving them.

The minister assured that both him and his Minister of State, Ademola Seriki, would be open and unbiased in their decision-making processes, solicited the unflinching support of the various para-military services and other departments in the ministry to enable him succeed.

In his brief handing over remarks, Abbe, who redeployed with his Minister of State, Abdulrahman Adamu, to the defence ministry, stated that change was inevitable and urged the various services in the ministry to extend the cooperation and forthrightness which they enjoyed from them to the new ministers.

Speaking on behalf of the various services, which were well represented by their CGs, the Controller-General of Prisons (CGP), Olusola Ogundipe, who expressed his happiness that the new ministers were well experienced, pledged their supports and cooperation. He reaffirmed that their loyalty to the President and the Nigerian flag was an unflinching one.

Also speaking, the permanent Secretary, Alhaji Bello Sali, who resumed in the ministry only about 32 days ago, assured the ministers that as bureaucrats and professionals, they would treat the new ministers well and work to move the ministry forward in the interest of the nation.

 

 

 

 

PHQ COMPLEX WILL BE OCCUPIED IN DECEMBER

----- CGP

The new imposing Prisons Headquarters complex will be occupied by the Service in December 2009. The President will formally open the complex at a date to be chosen in October. This was made known by the Controller General of Prisons, Mr Olusola Ogundipe, OFR, mni during an inspection visit to the complex.   

Expressing satisfaction with the pace and scope of work on the project but urged the contractors to make haste and install the lifts so that people can ascend the floors with ease. He appreciated the layout of the offices, the design of the Conference halls and urged the IT specialists installing the Information Management System to ensure a good quality work.

The CGP also inspected the officers’ guest house, the plant house, and the staff quarters all of which were nearing completion.

It will be recalled that contract for the construction of the Prisons Headquarters Complex was awarded in 2005. The complex is located on Bill Clinton/Airport drive.

 

PRISONS STAFF COLLEGE PASSES OUT 250 MASTER REFORMERS

By  Chuks Njoku (SP), Esq

 

The Prisons Staff College, Kaduna, the Premier apex Prison training institution in the country, established in 1986 with the mandate of training senior officers in various prisons programmes comprising of basic courses and other programmes relevant to the advancement f the Service on the 3^rd of July 2009, graduated 250 cadet officers, the highest number since the establishment of the College.

The cadets were the first batch of the 502 officers of the ranks of Assistant Superintendent of Prisons and Superintendents of Prisons employed in January, 2009. The cadets were drawn from the 36 States of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory Command.    

The course which is tagged the 18^th ASPs Basic Course 2009, commenced on the 9^th of February, 2009 with the inauguration by the Commandant of the College, Alhaji Momoh S. Momodu – Assistant Controller General of Prisons. At the Inauguration Ceremony the Assistant Controller General of Prisons welcomed and congratulated them for the opportunity to serve the country through the Nigerian Prisons Service. He reminded them that to be a Correctional officer a lot is expected of them because it is a task that demands discipline without compromise, proper understanding, patience, tolerance perseverance. He further told them that the present administration of the Service under the leadership of Mr Olusola Ogundipe, OFR, mni had consistently engaged in training and retraining of Prisons officers because of its mandate to make the Service remain relevant in the global scheme of things. The Controller General of Prisons strongly believes in excellence and professionalism and keeping abreast with the changing world. 

The cadets trained for the period of six months in the Prison College within this period they went through all rudiments of training which includes:

-      Basic Weapons training for two weeks (17^th to 30^th May 2009)

-      Leadership training at Mountain School Shere Hills Jos between 1^st of June to 14^th of June 2009 (2 weeks)

At the mountain school, the cadets were described as the best in all activities since the inception of the school. The unit coordinator Dr Ademola Adedeji congratulated the Prisons Service for selecting this set of cadets who are ready to take the Service to the next level.

There were also various excursions within Kaduna State which the cadets embarked on to enable them witness some events to add to their exposure. Two remarkable ones are Nigerian Defence Academy Passing out parade and National Sports Festival.

During the period of the Course, the cadets were posted to various convict prisons in the country for attachment which the Commandant Alhaji Momodu personally supervised in some States. The cadets in their various reports expressed the usefulness of increasing the period of prison yard attachment during such basic course. The attachment was generally successful.

The second term was characterised with lectures from external resource persons in various specialised areas.

The final examination was conducted on the 22^nd and 23^rd of June and the result was adjudged the best because 80% of the students scored B+ and above.

THE PASSING OUT PARADE

The Passing Out Parade was colourful and historic grand finale of the 18^th basic Assistant Superintendent of Prisons’ Basic Course. For the first time in the history of the College, colour party was introduced.

The Passing out Parade was reviewed by the Hon. Minister of Interior – Major General Godwin O. Abbe retired DSS, mni, CFR. The honourable Minister described the event as a significant milestone in the lives of the cadets as they had passed through the final stage of the most rigorous selection process to prepare them for the very grave responsibilities that lie ahead as MASTER REFORMERS, for Nigeria.

The reviewing officer thanked God for making it Possible for him to share the joy of the passing Out Parade.

The honourable Minister also stated in his address that our President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua, GCFR in his Vision to improve the Nigerian Prisons Service has given the Prisons tremendous support in the recent past towards the evolution of an efficient workforce.

The honourable minister commended the cadets’ turnout and described the parade as magnificent and an eloquent testimony that the Nigerian Prisons Service is the foremost paramilitary organisation which is ready to assume its pride of place in the building of modern Nigeria. He further stated that the complex prison techniques, correctional management and basic weapon handling training they had received is a deliberate effort to ensure that only the very best were selected and also designed to lay a solid foundation for the numerous challenges they will be exposed to as Prisons officers.

The honourable minister reminded the cadets that their career as as prison officers is most tasking and demanding. “It is not a career for the lazy person neither is it for the undisciplined” he said. It is a career for those who want to make a difference in the society. A career for those who want to contribute to nation building especially in the area of security and reformation of deviant minds. He therefore charged them to be disciplined, loyal focused.

The Prison Staff College, the Minister said, is a foremost and noble institution of learning where young cadets and other officers are properly moulded and packaged both in character and learning. The College, he further stated, had adjudged the graduates as being fit and proper to serve and therefore they have no excuse not to deliver as the society relies on them to take penal administration and best prison practice to the next level. He further reminded them that the inmates scattered all over this great nation are the raw materials waiting to be processed. He therefore charged them to put into practice what they have learnt in the College.

He commended the Commandant – Alhaji Momoh Salau Momodu (ACG), Directing Staff, instructors and other staff of Prison Staff College for a job well done. He also commended the Controller General Prisons – Mr Olusola Ogundipe, OFR, mni and he headquarter staff for their endurance and readiness to give necessary leadership to the Nigerian Prisons Service.

He appreciated the invited guests and all well wishers and thanked them for gracing the occasion and prayed that God will lead them safely back to their destinations.

Earlier, the cadets that distinguished themselves in various field were awarded with the College awards. They are:

1.  Best in Academics: Cadet Bamidele Julius Olabode with average sum of 92.2

2.  2^nd Best in academics: Cadet Abubakar AGbabiaka A. With 90

3.  3^rd Best in academics:  Cadet Anadozie Nwanneka Uzoamaka with 89.5

4.  Best in Conduct and Leadership: Cadet Omotubora kehinde

5.  Best in Parade: Cadet Ayinde Adeniyi Adeleke who was the General parade Commander for the Passing Our Parade.

Speaking to journalists later, the honourable Minister assured that there are plans to expand the Staff College and make it a place that will be one of the best.

The Commandant, Alhaji Momodu (ACG) also expressed his appreciation to God for the success of the course and to the Controller-General of Prisons and the Staff of Prisons Staff College, Kaduna, he expressed thanks for their untiring efforts and contributions towards the successful completion of the course and wished the graduands success as they go into the field.

There was entertainment at various levels after the passing out parade as parents and well wishers were seen congratulating their wards. Among other dignitaries that graced the occasions were some of the following:-

The representative of the Governor of Kaduna State, the board members of CIPB, Representative of Chief Judge of Kaduna State, the Controller-General of prisons, Commandant General of Federal Fire Service, the Honourable Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Services Edo State, Hajiya Maimuna M. S. Momodu (Wife of the Commandant, Prisons Staff College, Kaduna), the representative of Emir of Zaria, Hakimin Barnawa, Acting Deputy Controller General of Prisons Admin, Mr Diya, Assistant Controllers General of prisons; Alhaji Dagaci and Alhaji Arungung, Zonal Coordinator Immigration, representative of Prisons Zonal Coordinator Zone B, Dr Abel Ekpunobi, Controller of Prisons Kaduna, Niger, Kwara State and representatives of Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Command and Staff College Jaji, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Commissioner of Police, etc.

 

REPORT  ON WORKSHOP ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF PRISONS WELFARE INSURANCE SCHEME FOR MEMBERS OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES, SENIOR PRISON OFFICERS AND COMMAND DESK OFFICERS.

INTRODUCTION:

The workshop which is the third of its kind since the inception of the scheme was put together for the training and retraining of Board Members, newly appointed Controllers of Prison as well as Command Desk Officers to re-strategize the management profile of the scheme and rejuvenate Staff Welfare through effective and efficient insurance best practices.

     It was specifically designed to empirically evaluate the performance index of the scheme achieved over the years through various training programmes, improve the professional acumen of the operators and explore available opportunities necessary to enhancing Staff Welfare, whether in the area of Group Life, Deposit Administration or Medical Allowances.

      Desirous to achieving the foregoing, the workshop was organised in conjunction with a training Consultant, ASTUTE INSURANCE BROKERS in order to provide a robust training scheme necessary to bridge any knowledge gap.

      The training which was originally planned to accommodate One Hundred participants was unavoidably stretched to include three extra Desk Officers from Taraba, Lagos and Ogun State Commands who besieged the venue of the conference even though they were not invited, and Seventeen Officers from Zone B, Zonal Office as well as Kaduna State Command. The total number of Participants therefore rose to One Hundred and Twenty (120).

      The workshop was held at Hamadala Hotel, Kaduna and was declared open by the Controller General of Prisons and Chairman Board of Trustees, elder O. A. Ogundipe OFR, mni ably represented by the Deputy Controller General of Prisons (Admin & Supply).

THEME AND OBJECTIVE

      The theme of this year’s workshop was “Promoting Staff Welfare through an effective insurance scheme” while the core objectives included:

1.  Empirical evaluation of the performance index of the Scheme.

2.  Boosting professional acumen of Desk Officers

3.  Bridge the gap between Controllers of Prisons and Command Desk Officers.

4.  Fast-track internationally accepted best practices in insurance business and ensure domestication.

5.  Explore other available opportunities necessary to improve Staff Welfare through an effective insurance scheme.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

      Declaring the workshop opened, the Controller General of Prisons and Chairman Board of Trustees, speaking through the Deputy Controller General of Prisons, Admin & Supply, emphasized its importance which according to him include, human resource development (Capacity building), strategic management regimes that will result in accelerating claims payment, acquainting new Controller of Prisons and other Senior Prison Officers with the rudiments of the departments of insurance/other policies and finally boost the Welfare of Staff whether at death, while exiting from the service as well as Medical Allowances.

      Accordingly, the above measures will in small scale obviate some of the financial stresses of the Staff both in death and life, and bring succor to the faces of the immediate families of the deceased.

      Conclusively, he enjoined Desk Officers to truly represent the interest of the Staff that are in need without necessarily generating new sets of stress and warned that his administration will not compromise the sanctity of PWIS and indeed the service. He thus wished the participants a successful deliberation.

 

PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS:

      Various papers were packaged for presentation by the consultant trainer. They were categorized into groups namely; core Insurance papers and supportive papers. Also an average of four papers were delivered and discussed each day given birth to about twelve presentations. The presentations gradually snow-balled to end on the third day with syndicate/group discussion wherein two topics were formulated for determination. The topics were (1) Examine the use of Insurance mechanism in the administration of Prison Staff Welfare Scheme ‘(2)’ What are the challenges confronting you as PWIS Desk Officers in your  respective Commands and (b) What are the solutions to the various problems.

       The core Insurance papers were:

1.  Risk and Insurance

2.  Group/Personal Accident Insurance

3.  Group Life

4.  Investment and Deposit Administration

5.  Claims, Procedure and Administration, while the supportive papers covered areas which were considered cognate and coterminous with the main papers stated above. They included, Prisons Welfare Insurance Scheme – the journey so far, Understanding the Trust Deed and Rules as an organic instrument of PWIS; THE Structure, funding and challenges of the Scheme and the role of information technology in the Administration of Prisons Welfare Insurance Scheme.

Nonetheless, it is worthy to mention that each paper had a session Chairman  whose onerous responsibility was to analyze the paper so presented, inject his own opinion based on points raised and request the participants to prop up their respective comments and questions to be answered by the presenter.

    To this end, may it be placed on record that the first paper on the historical antecedents of PWIS was taken by F. O. Afolabi (CP) Vice– Chairman of the scheme and the session was chaired by M. B. Mammud, (ACG) Zonal Coordinator, Zone B. Similarily, the second paper entitled Risk and Insurance was presented by Obinnaya C. Uruakpa while the session was chaired by Navy Captain J. A. Edako. Also, the third paper on Group Personal Accident Insurance was presented by Mr A. Olowu and the session chaired by Deputy Controller of Prisons, (Research) Abuja, Dr I. W. Orakwe. The fourth paper on Understanding the Trust Deed as an organic instrument of PWIS was delivered by Barr. C. E. Obong (L.A) while the session was chaired by the Controller of Prisons Kwara State Command.

      Opening prayer was said by DCP Greg. Adinfono while closing prayer was taken by Abu Yau (ACP).

      Day 2 started with lecture titled Group Life Assurance. It was presented by Ladi Owolabi while the session was chaired by the Controller of Prisons, Kaduna State Command, A. A. Ashafa. In the same vein, the second lecture for the day titled Structure, Funding and Challenges was delivered by Kinane, S. D (ACP) Secretary BOT While the session was chaired by Ubi, Vincent (DCP) Staff Officer. The third paper on the role of information technology in the administration of PWIS was presented by Engineer Richard Owan while the session was chaired by S. H. Abduhalli (Navy Commdr.). To close the barrage of lectures for the day, a paper titled Investment and Deposit Administration was presented by Mr Olowu while the session was chaired by Ubi, Vincent (DCP) STAFF Abuja.

      The final day was principally occupied with a lecture titled Claims, Procedure and Administration. It was duly taken by Mr Ladi Owolabi and chaired by Alhaji M. S. Mommodu (ACG) Commandant PSCK. This was immediately followed by Syndicate/group discussion. To accomplish this segment of events for the day, the participants were divided into groups namely A and B. Two topics were formulated and giving to them for discussion. The two topics were; examine the use of insurance mechanism in the administration of Prisons Welfare Scheme and, Challenges facing the Desk Officers at their various Commands including possible solutions to them.

      Similarly at the end of the lecture/paper delivered by Ladi Owolabi, subjective questions where formulated and distributed to the participants and the best three out of the pool were rewarded appropriately.

COST IMPLICATION

      The total cost implication for the intensive training programme was N9,614,000.00.

      This was categorized into training fee which amounted to N4,500,000.00 representing N45,000.00 per participants. While N5,114,000.00 was devoted for accommodation, Hall, Feeding, Conference Materials, Decoration, Logistics, Public Address System (PAS), Barners, Printing, Media Coverage and Miscellaneous. 

      In spite of spillovers which ballooned the number of participants to over 100, no incidental liability was incurred as financial expenditures were bottled within the budget.

 

COMMUNIQUÉ

INTRODUCTION:

The PWIS mounted a national workshop targeted at assessing its performance index with a view to improving, strengthening and promoting Staff Welfare through an efficient and effective insurance scheme.

The national workshop was declared open by the Controller General of Prisons, Mr. O. A. Ogundipe OFR, mni ably represented by the acting Deputy Controller General of Prisons (Admin & Supply) Mr. A. G Diya mni. The conference had Staff representation in all the State Commands including the Federal Capital Territory totalling One Hundred and Twenty (120) participants. A total of nine papers were presented which were exhaustively discussed giving vent to the following resolutions:

1.  The conference commends the CGPs for mounting the workshop, declaring it open and the current efforts made to re-position PWIS for efficient delivery of service to contributors.

2.  The conference prays the CGPs to assist the Desk Officers by annually convening the workshop in order to broaden understanding of the role  of PWIS in the service

3.  The conference acknowledges with thanks the vigorous efforts made to recover the debts owed by NICON Insurance to PWIS.

4.  The conference further praises the Board of Trustees on the recent strides in promptly effecting  payments to deserved beneficiaries.

5.  The conference recommends the setting up a website and e-mail sites for PWIS activities to be regularly accessed.

6.  The conference recognizes the Trust Deed and Rules as an organic instrument of PWIS and hopes copies of the document would soon be printed and distributed to Staff for general information.

7.  The conference pleads with the CGPs to widely publicise the activities of the Group Life Assurance which is statutory much the same way the Deposit Administration is being publicised.

8.  The conference agrees that all categories of Staff should revalidate who their next of kin are to avoid crisis during payment to beneficiaries.

9.  The conference respectfully recommends to the CGPs to assist the running of PWIS Secretariat with the issuance of a mini bus.

10.               The conference enjoins the Desk Officers to arrange during weekly Thursday lectures to cover the prison formations in the state in order to deliver lectures on the benefits/activities of the Scheme.

11.               The conference encourages PWIS Officers to avail themselves of the opportunities offered by ICT for higher job performances.

12.               In order to further publicise the activities of PWIS, the conference proposes to the CGPs to mandate the Secretary BOT to deliver lectures at training schools whenever courses are mounted.

13.               The conference pleads with CGPs to direct the principal field officers not to transfer appointed Desk Officers without authorization from the Prisons Headquarters.

14.              The conference finally recommends increase in monthly staff contributions to make the scheme more viable economically.

Conclusion: The PWIS national workshop came to a close with a firm commitment and resolve by the participants to further the current gains of the scheme. The Commandant Prison Staff College on behalf of the CGPs declare the conference closed.

----------------------                                               -----------------------

Mr. E. Ekanem(ACP)                                 Mr. Loveday Obi(CSP)

 

PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATE

Certificates of attendance were presented to the participants by Astute Insurance Brokers (Consultant) and the Commandant, Prison Staff College Kaduna, Alhaji M. S. Mommodu who formally declared the workshop closed.

 

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 The workshop which is third of its kind in the anals of history of the scheme was organised in conjunction with ASTUTE INSURANCE BROKERS LTD.

      It had in attendance, over One Hundred participants, slightly above the anticipated  member (100) and was held at Hamdala Hotel , Kaduna on the 22^nd – 24^th July, 2009.

      This year’s title was “promoting Staff Welfare through an effective Insurance Scheme”, and had performance index evaluation, increased professional acumen, gap bridging between Controllers of Prisons, Zonal Coordinators on one part and Desk Officers on the other, fast tracking internationally recognized best practices in insurance business and its domestication, and explorations of other opportunities necessary to improve Staff Welfare as its objective.

      A total of nine papers were presented throughout the training programme, all chaired by responsible and respectable personalities. The papers were divided into two main categories namely, Core Insurance papers and supportive papers which indeed provided necessary insights into the activities of the Scheme since its inception.

      At the end of the day three, syndicate group discussion took place and subjective questions were formulated for the participant’s determination. The top three out of the participants were adequately rewarded. Three Desk Officers not originally invited attended the workshop and were reasonably accommodated in the programme.

      The high point of the workshop was marked by communiqué presentation and presentation of Certificates of attendance.

      It was formally declared closed by the Commandant Prison Staff College Kaduna, Alhaji M. S. Mommodu who infact chaired the last paper.

     The total cost implications for workshop stood at N9,614,000.00.

CLOSING DECLARATION

Closing declaration was made by Alhaji M. S. Mommodu, Commandant, Prison Staff College Kaduna. In his speech, he expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the workshop and wished the attendees safe drive to their respective stations while vote of thanks was given by Sam C. E. Obong Esq., the Legal Adviser to the service.

 

Barr, Kinane S. D.(ACP)

Secretary PWIS/BOT

 

FAMILIES OF DEAD STAFF RECEIVE SUCCOUR

The Controller General of Prisons, Mr Olusola Ogundipe has stated his unwavering commitment to the welfare of late prisons staff who died in active service. He stated this while presenting cheques to relations of some deceased member of staff in his office.

He assured the relatives of the dead officers that their plight remains shared at all times by the Service and advised them not to hesitate to come to him for any assistance. He regretted that the officers had to die when and the way they did that pointed out that  no one could question the will of God.

He said that the presentations were not the terminal benefits of the officers but the Insurance cover which the Government had taken out on the life of all officers to cover them for the unforeseen arising from the risks they run in their places of work. He stated that the Insurance cover arose because daily work in the prison was fraught so much risk to life and limb.

He extolled the courage of officers who lost their lives trying to prevent inmates from rioting and escaping and promised that the Service will always remember these families and do all within its power to make sure that they do not suffer unduly.

The late officers were

(1) Ndubuisi Nwakuche, DCP

(2) Chinna Ngozi, IP

(3) Bigzu James, IP

(4) Oforodu Uzodimma, IP and

(5) Azuonwu Geoffrey, IP      

These families received one million five hundred and sixty one thousand, one hundred and ten naira each for the inspectors whuile the family of the late Deputy Controller of Prisons received the sum of five million two hundred and seventy thousand six hundred and twenty five naira.

Speaking on behalf of the recipients, Evangelist Sunny Nwakuche who led Mrs Chimnanya Nwakuche to the ceremony prayed for the grace of God upon the management of the Nigerian Prisons Service for the kind gesture they extended to their fallen colleagues. He urged the Controller General not to forget these grieving families and prayed that God will grant the management to continue to care for the weak and unfortunate among their colleagues.

Since inception about 50 late officers’ families have benefitted from he programme running into millions of naira. 

 

NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY PARTNERS WITH THE NIGERIAN PRISONS SERVICE: PRISONERS TO BENEFIT

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has pledged to assist the Nigerian Prisons Service in its human resource development campaign. This statement was made by the Vice Chancellor NOUN Professor Olugbenro Jegede when he led other members of the University’s administration on a courtesy call on the Controller General of Prisons Mr Olusola Ogundipe in his office.

Professor Jegede described NOUN as the only University that takes education to the door steps of every Nigerian who cares to read, stated that the University has established relationships with the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic with vibrant study centres that are at present making waves all over the country. He said that the NOUN train was at the Prisons Headquarters for the same purpose.  Prof Jegede proposed that the inmates of the Prison should not be punished twice by depriving them of their liberty and at the same time preventing them from benefitting from educational programmes. He commended the Nigerian prisons service for what NOUN is already doing at the maximum Security and Ikoyi prisons both in Lagos and stated that the performance of the inmates was very excellent. He therefore urged the management of the Nigerian Prisons Service to work towards creating a study centre that will coordinate NOUN interventions in the lives of inmates educationally. He commended the Air-force study centre for its very high standards and urged the Nigerian Prisons Service to work towards along such standards.

He reiterated that he foray of NOUN into the NPS was not going to be limited to prisoners. He said that it is the last person that matters: that the job of NOUN was not finished until every Nigerian is educationally endowed. He stated that the prison study centre will cater for both the needs of prisoners and those of staff.

Commending the Controller General of Prisons for his giant strides in the transformation of the prisons, Prof Jegede promised to assist the prisons manpower development efforts by deploying NOUN’s resources to full effect.

Responding, an effusive Mr Ogundipe said that the visit has made his day. He said that the coming of the NOUN executive was the culmination of his aspiration. He said that the key thrust of his reform efforts of his administration was education – what is called the second Tier human Resource Development Strategy designed to give the prisoners another opportunity for self development.  He said that serve his administration came on board he has never lost any opportunity to give prisoners education.

Informing that many of the prisoners admitted into the prisoners are illiterates, he stated that efforts to get them educated was the fundamental focus of his administration.

He rolled out the net result of these efforts in the Borstal Training Institution Kaduna, alone. In 2006 95 out of 95 students registered fro trade test grade III in 2006 passed. 50 who entered for Grade II also passed while 3 passed the Grade I.

By the sme token 121 entered and passed in Grde III in 2007, 40 out of 40 passed in Grade II while 2 passed in Grade I.

In 2008, 89 passed Grade III, 14 Grade II and 3 Grade 3. The implication of this result is 100 percent pass every year since 2006.

Similarly, 27 out of 27 students who enrolled for NECO in 2007 passed. The same is true fro the 14 that sat for JAMB in 2008. In 2009 33 out of the 33 that sat for JAMB all passed wile the 54 that sat for NECO 2009 all passed.

It was only in the Junior School Certificate of 2008 that 4 failed out of the 37 that sat for the exams.

Mr Ogundipe also told the visitors that Service was also into partnership with Igbinedion University. This collaboration is aimed at producing the right calibre of staff across all grades to drive the process of reforms in the prisons. He stated that the pursuit of education in the prison was an all round process encompassing all sectors of the Service.

He praised NOUN for the inroads they have made at Ikoyi and Maximum Security Prisons. But he urged them to consider extending the centres to Prisons Headquarters Abuja, Kaduna Borstal, Enugu and Port Harcourt Prisons among others.

He said he hoped to attend the graduation ceremony of the inmate students of NOUN in not to distant future.

Responding, Prof Jegede thanked the CGP for his assurance. He promised that as soon as the Prisons Headquarters moves to is permanent site. NOUN will move in to set up a centre. He prayed for years of fruitful interaction between the prison and NOUN leading to the emancipation of our compatriots held hostage by ignorance and by so doing midwife a secure Nigerian society.

Prof Jegede came along with members of NOUN management including Prof Vincent Tenebe O.V.C. Administration, Prof Babatunde Ipaye, Director Learner Support Services: Dr Atere Director, Special Study Centres: Dr Grace Osumon Laison Manager Abuja office, Dr Ronke Ogunmakun, Director Media and Information. Mr R. Izang Chief Accountant, Dr Ifeanyi Snr Admin Officer, Mr Chiga Legal and Protocol, Ms Clementina Admin officer.

The prison was also represented by the heads of the Directorates, legal Adviser and the Director of Finance and Accounts.     

 

NEW HELMSMEN AT THE INTERIOR MINISTRY AS GEN ABBE BECOMES DEFENCE MINISTER.

A new Minister has been named for the Interior Ministry. He is Dr Shettima Mustapha. This development followed the minor cabinet reshuffle announced by President Umaru Yar’Adua.

In the minor reshuffle which took immediate effect, Dr Mustapha, who until then was the Minister of Defence moved over to the Interior Ministry.

Also posted to the Interior Ministry was the former Minister of State for Defence Ademola Rasaq Seriki, Esq who by reason of this new movement becomes the new Minister of State for the Interior.

Similarly, General Godwin Abbe (rtd) was also posted to the Defence Ministry with the former Minister of State for the Interior, Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu who becomes the Minister of State for Defence.

Dr Mustapha was trained as an agronomist at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

He holds BSc (Hons) from ABU Zaria; a postgraduate diploma in Applied Biology (Plant Breeding/Agronomy) of the University of Cambridge, UK; a Visiting Scholar Status of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; and a PhD of ABU Zaria. He also holds a professional Certificate on Monitoring and Evaluation of Agricultural Projects of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

After completing his first degree in 1972, he joined the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, as a trainee Cotton Breeder. From 1975 onward, he was Head of the Fibres Breeding Section of the IAR as well as Chairman of Nigeria’s research programme on cotton and other fibres. As a cotton breeder, Dr Mustafa has to his credit, singly or jointly, the development of improved varieties of cotton released for cultivation to Nigerian farmers.

From October 1979 to 1983, Dr Shettima Mustafa served first as Commissioner for Finance and later Commissioner fro Education in Borno State Government under Great Nigeria Peoples’ Party (GNPP). During the 1983 general elections, Dr Mustafa contested for the Office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Running Mate of the Owelle of Onitsha, The Great Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, under the platform of the Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NPP).

Dr Shettima Mustafa’s exposure to partisan politics in Nigeria has been long, active and rewarding. He first joined the Borno youth Movement (BYM) headed by Alhaji Ibrahim Imam as a teenager in 1954. Later, in the mid to late fifties he joined the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC) Youth Wing. During the Second Republic politics, he was a member of the Great Nigeria’s Peoples; Party (GNPP) but due to realignments within and across the parties during the 1979 to 1983 period, Dr Shettima together with his followers joined the Nigeria’s Peoples Party (NPP), the original base from which the GNPP emanated under which he contested the 1983 elections as the Vice Presidential candidate. During the aborted Third and Fourth Republic politics, 1989 to 1993 and 1993 to 1998, respectively, Dr Shettima was in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), respectively and was even involved in their formation and maturity. From 1998 to 1999, Dr Mustafa was involved in the formation of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and became its pioneer National Treasurer from 1998 to 2001.

He was a member of the Presidential Policy Advisory Committee (PPAC), a body that drew up a blue print for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo before he was sworn in as president in which Shettima served as the Chairman of the Agricultural Sub-Committee. He served as Chairman or member of several FG committees including the numerous Presidential initiatives on various agricultural commodities established between 1999 Constitution of Nigeria between 1999 – 2001. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Savannah Bank Plc, from April 2000 to August 2001. He was a member of the National Political Reform Conference of 2005.

An erudite scholar, an academic in his own right, a university lecturer and researcher, farmer, leader, politician and great mobilizers of people, Dr Shettima Mustafa had distinguished himself as a top level professional and manager. Even as Minister of Agriculture, he successfully supervised an Msc candidate of the University of Jos in Plant Breeding between 1989 – 1991. Presently (2008), he is appointed by ABU Zaria to supervise a PhD candidate on cotton breeding

In December 2008, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua appointed Dr Shettima Minister of Defence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

A philanthropist who is always willing to help others in need of his services – individuals as well as corporate bodies. Shettima is married with children and grand children.    

 

The New Minister of State of the Interior Chief Ademola Radaq Seriki, Esq on the other hand was born in Lagos on the 30^th of November, 1959.

After his primary and secondary education he proceeded to the City University of New York where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Accounting and Management in 1984. Similarly in 1986, he earned a Master of Science degree in Accounting and financial Management from the same university.

He has worked in various managerial capacities as financial management consultant and educational instructor. He is a licensed Teacher of Accounting and Business mathematics at the new York City Board of Education. He was a tutor and counsellor, New York City Board of Education, JFK memorial High school and Walton high School in 1981 – 1986.

He was the Executive Director, Business Development and marketing at the PIFCO (Nig) Ltd, Ikoyi Lagos in 1999-2007; the Vice president, Investment and Operations, perpetual Associates International USA Inc. in 1994 – 1999; the Assistant Manager (Auditing) Koskolowsky & Co, an accounting firm in Rochester New York from 1986 – 1987. In 1987, he participated in the mandatory National Youth Service Programme at the Equity and Trust Finance Company Limited, Lagos he was later retained as the new Business Manager up to 1992.  

His leadership skills and the urge to touch people’s lives in Nigeria propelled him to join politics. He has carved a niche for himself in the Nigeria’s political scenario. His political achievements includes: Chairman, Lagos State Sports Council in 1992 – 1994. He was appointed the Honourable Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, in October 2007 and the Honourable Supervising Minister, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, October – December 2008.

His political antecedent also include the following: he won the election into the Federal House of Representatives under the platform of the UNCP in 1998. He emerged as the Senatorial Candidate under the NRC, for Lagos Central Senatorial District and contested for the election in 1992. He also emerged as the Senatorial candidate under the umbrella of PDP for Lagos Central Senatorial election in the 2007 general elections.  

He was the state Vice Chairman of the PDP in 2005 – 2006, Secretary, Lagos State PDP Disciplinary committee, Party chairman, PDP Lagos Island Local Government 2000 – 2002 and the flag bearer of PDP into the National Assembly Election, Lagos island Constituency in 2003. He is happily married with children.

His hobbies include playing golf, reading, writing articles, and participating in intellectual discussions. He is widely travelled and loves meeting and helping people.

 

NIGERIA SHINES IN GENEVA

BACKGROUND:

        Nigeria appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (NHRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group (WG), for the review of her human rights practices in Geneva, Switzerland, 9 February, 2009.  The delegation was led by the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe.  The alternate leader of the delegation was the Honourable Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Micheal Kaase Aondoakaa.  Other members of the delegation included Senator Umaru Dahiru, Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters; and Senator Eme Ufot Ekaette, Chairperson, Senate Committee on Women and Youth Development.

The UPR is a new and unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council, which started in April, 2008.  Under the UPR the human rights practices of every Member-State of the United Nations (192) would be reviewed by other States once every four years.  The Review is a three-stage process: The first stage involves the State under Review (SuR) appearing before the Working Group for three hours during which, the SuR will make its presentation, followed by an interactive session of questions and answers.  The outcome of this phase of the process is a document containing recommendations by the WG and voluntary commitments by the SuR.  The second phase is the adoption of this document within two weeks of the WG session, but not earlier than 48 hours after the State was reviewed.  The third phase is the adoption of that document during a plenary session of the Human Rights Council.

Under the UPR process three documents are used in conducting the Review: Information provided by the State concerned, i.e. a National Report; a compilation by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, detailing the human situation in the SuR; and the third document is a compilation of ‘credible and reliable’ information about human rights practices in SuR, by other relevant stakeholders, including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

In the preparations for its National Report, Nigeria conducted a broad-based National Consultative Forum (NCF) in Abuja, from 3-4 November, 2008.  The NCF was attended by a cross-section of Nigerian society, including representatives of Government, Politicians, Religious and Traditional Leaders, Civil Society/NGOs, Women Groups, Youth Organizations, etc.  The Forum discussed various human rights issues in Nigeria in a free and transparent manner, and the decisions of the Forum were faithfully reflected in Nigeria’s UPR National Report.

While our National Report assessed the human rights situation in Nigeria in an objective and transparent manner, both the compilation by the OHCHR and the NGOs focused mainly on negative perceptions, leading to unfavourable reporting of the human rights situation in Nigeria.  The reports portrayed Nigeria as a country, where the security forces kill at will, rape women indiscriminately and regularly torture prison inmates.  With regard to socio-economic and cultural rights, the reports highlighted the high prevalence of infant and maternal mortality rates in Nigeria.  In the areas of health and education, Nigeria’s over-1 million HIV/AIDS orphans is said to be the highest in the world, while in spite of Government’s efforts, the reports still criticized the high rate of children out of school in Nigeria.  In its report, the National Human Rights Commission described our criminal justice system as bedevilled with out-dated legislation, corruption, and susceptible to multiple violations of human rights.  Nigeria’s tripartite legal system, especially the Sharia Law, according to these reports exacerbates the violation of women and children rights in the country.  With regard to capital punishment, the reports alleged that Nigeria has been carrying out ‘secret executions’.  Nigeria was, therefore, urged to join the global trend of moratorium on the death penalty.

NIGERIA’S REVIEW: HMFA’s OPENING STATEMENT AND THE INTERACTIVE SESSION:

In Nigeria’s defence, the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs gave a robust opening statement of 11 pages in which he highlighted the efforts Government has made in the promotion and protection of human rights in Nigeria.  The statement responded to every single allegation against Nigeria in both the OHCHR and NGO compilations.  In the statement, HMFA indicated several false and misleading comments expressed against Nigeria in the stakeholders’ report.  He observed that, although the UPR process allowed for contribution from NGOs, their report should be based on ‘credible and reliable’ information, which was lacking in their report on Nigeria. 

The Honourable Minister, therefore, used the opportunity to correct the distortion of facts by the NGOs, by providing detailed factual information, most of which were contained in our National Report.  He told the Working Group that a fair and objective analysis of human rights in Nigeria should reflect the considerable progress made in the country, since the return to democratic governance in 1999.  Specifically, he informed the Working Group about Mr. President’s commitment to the rule of law, which is now a fundamental principle of governance in Nigeria.

Consistent with his commitment to protect and promote  human rights in general, as well as the pledge Nigeria made before her election into the Human Rights Council in 2006, the Honourable Minister informed the Working Group that on 19 January, 2009 the President signed the instruments of accession to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CRMW); the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED); the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPG); and the Optional Protocol to the Convention to the Convention against Torture (OP-CAT).  In addition, Nigeria has now ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD-OP).

With regard to the concern expressed by some delegations about Nigeria’s tripartite legal system, HMFA stressed that the 1999 Constitution remained the supreme law of Nigeria.  On the issue of the constitutionality of the Sharia law and the punishments prescribed by the Sharia courts, HMFA said that the state governments that adopted the Sharia law governing Muslims in their jurisdiction had done so in line with the Constitution.  To allay the concerns expressed by several EU countries about what they termed as ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments’ in the Sharia, he said that ‘in over 100 years of the application of Sharia in Nigeria, only one persons, who had refused to appeal against his sentence, had his hand amputated for stealing’.  10.      With regard to the concerns expressed about the death penalty, allegations of extra-judicial killings and torture, the Minister referred to Section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which protects the right to life and provides that ‘no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty Nigeria’.  Accordingly, the death sentence is a valid part of Nigerian law and there is no reason for Nigeria to carry out ‘secret executions’ as alleged in the stakeholders’ report.  Continuing, the Minister said that, in spite of the legality of death penalty in Nigeria, Government was not unmindful of the global trend in respect of moratorium.  With regard to the allegation of extra-judicial killings against members of the Nigerian security forces, the Minister affirmed that ‘Nigeria has never and will never, condone a policy of in which members of its security forces deprive any human being of his/her life’.  Stressing further, he said that in the very rare instances where security personnel were found guilty of extra-judicial killings or gross misconduct they had been punished in accordance with the law.

Nigeria received several queries on the Internet ahead of the review in respect of the situation in the Niger Delta, which was seen by some countries as the case of minorities trying to assert control over their oil resources.  Explaining the situation in the Niger-Delta, HMFA separated the legitimate political demands of the people in the region from the criminal activities of the members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) and other militant groups in the region. The Minister assured the WG that Government was doing everything possible to meet the economic, political and social needs of the people of the Niger-Delta, through the creation of the Ministry for Niger-Delta.  However, to ensure peace and security for everyone living in the region, the Federal Government had to send a Military Joint Task Force to maintain law and order.

With regard to the concerns expressed about the spate of communal and religious crisis in Nigeria, HMFA said that the Federal and State Governments were doing everything possible to contain the situation. On the prevention, treatment and elimination of stigmatization for people living with HIV/AIDS, the Minister informed the Working Group about the legislation protecting the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

On Nigeria’s position regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, HMFA did not mince words.  He informed the Working Group that ‘Nigeria has no record of any group of Nigerians having come together under the umbrella of a Lesbian, Gay and Transgender group’.  If there were such a group and it decided to remain amorphous, then it should not talk about it rights in Nigeria, the Minister said.  Of course, as citizens, all Nigerians have their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, added the Minister.

After concluding his statement, HMFA gave the floor to the Honourable Minister of Justice to make comments on some of the issues raised about the criminal justice system in Nigeria.  The Attorney-General informed the Working Group that MFA and himself were at Nigeria’s review because of the importance Mr. President attached to human rights.  He said that most of the provisions in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights are reflected in our 1999 Constitution.  Therefore, acceding to the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was like following our Constitution for which, we needed no prodding.  With regard to the Freedom of Information Bill, he said that it was with the National Assembly, and it has the full support of Government.  

Commenting on what he personally did to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Nigeria, the Attorney-General said that one of the first things he did on assumption of office, was to create the Citizen Rights Department in the Ministry of Justice, where anybody who is detained for more than 24 hours could lodge a complaint.  He also created the Legal Assistance Department, so that accused persons who have no lawyers would get lawyers paid by Government to represent them.  With regard to human trafficking, the Attorney-General said that Nigeria had signed cooperation agreement with several countries in respect of controlling this vice.  However, he stressed that human trafficking required global cooperation, and those trafficked should not be seen as criminals, but victims of organized crime.  In conclusion, the Attorney-General said that Nigeria would implement every recommendation that would improve the human rights situation in the country, thus making Nigeria a model for human rights in Africa.

THE INTERACTIVE SESSION

84 countries inscribed to speak, but only 60 were able to do so owing to time constraint during the three-hour interactive discussion session on Nigeria’s review. Many delegations commended the comprehensive statement made by HMFA, which gave an objective overview of the human rights in Nigeria.  They noted the positive strides Nigeria has made in the area of human rights, since returning to democratic governance in 1999.  These included the enactment of a National Plan of Action on Human Rights; the first successful transition from one civilian government to another; the progress made towards achieving the MDGs; efforts to protect the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS; steps taken to uphold the rights of children; advancements made in the areas of health and education; progress made in combating poverty; the establishment of inter-religious council; efforts to train prison staff on human rights matters; the creation of programmes to reintegrate and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking and efforts to combat such crimes; and the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission.  Several delegations took this opportunity to express appreciation to our Ambassador/Permanent Representative to Geneva, Dr. Martin Uhomoibhi for his able leadership role as current President of the Human Rights Council.

However, several delegations mainly from OECD countries, raised a number of queries pertaining to the human rights situation in Nigeria, and made recommendations for improvement.  Among the queries raised and explanation demanded were in respect of: concrete steps and obstacles in combating human trafficking; efforts made by Government to deal with harmful traditional practices, in particular measures to eliminate female genital mutilation; measures in place to provide access to justice and remedy for female victim of violence; steps envisaged to address the high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria; efforts to increase school enrolment rate;  steps taken to combat poverty; concrete steps taken to combat HIV/AIDS.  

Other issues and questions pertained to the relationship between Government and the National Human Rights Commission, i.e. the need to grant full autonomy to the Commission; follow-up measures to the visit of the Special Rapporteur on torture and extrajudicial killings; initiative to be taken to ensure that acts of torture and ill-treatment by police officers or other law enforcement agencies were promptly investigated; the spate of communal and religious riots in Nigeria, with special reference to the recent one in Jos; and Government’s plans to address the environmental challenges, as well as the kidnapping of foreigners in the Niger-Delta.  A few delegations raised the issue of the need to make the socio-economic rights in the 1999 Constitution enforceable, taking into account the low human development indices of Nigeria. 

RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE WORKING GROUP

At the interactive session, over one hundred recommendations were made to Nigeria on how to further promote and protect the human rights of its citizens.  The recommendations were clustered into 32 areas, because several countries made similar recommendations.  Attached to this report are details of the recommendations and the name of the countries that made them.  Among the recommendations, are some that should be considered seriously by Government.  These include the allegations of extrajudicial killings and torture by our security forces, further reforms in our criminal justice system, especially the large number of detainees awaiting trial, human trafficking, large number of children out of school, etc.  There are others which are in conflict with our laws and even Constitution, and until we change the laws or amend the Constitution we shall not be able to implement them.  These include the death penalty, gay and lesbian relationship, same sex marriage, etc. 

Some of the major recommendations are as follows:

(a)    Human Rights Instruments: Mauritius, Benin, Brazil, Argentina and Portugal, all made recommendations pertaining to accession/ratification or implementation of human rights instruments.  They recommended that Nigeria should fast-track the process or accession to human rights instruments to which Nigeria is not a party.  Portugal also recommended that Nigeria should consider making the socio-economic and cultural rights in the 1999 Constitution enforceable rights:  The recommendation on accession/ratification by Nigeria of the UN human rights instruments mentioned is acceptable.  However, making socio-economic and cultural rights enforceable is subject to constitutional review.  Our acceptance should, therefore, be conditional;

(b)    Rights of Women and Children:  Ghana, Norway, Republic of Korea, Niger, The Netherlands, Algeria, Brazil and New Zealand recommended that Nigeria should domesticate both the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was passed by the National Assembly as the Child’s Rights Act 2003:  This recommendation is acceptable.  The Child’s Rights Act has been passed by the National Assembly and 20 States have also adopted it.  The CEDAW Bill is with the Senate and with some efforts it will be passed;

(c)    Human Rights Institutions: Ghana, Finland, New Zealand and Portugal recommended that Nigeria should grant full autonomy to its human rights institutions, which would enable the National Human Rights Commission regain its Category “A” status.  There is already a bill to that effect before the National Assembly.  Therefore, this recommendation is acceptable;

(d)    National Consultative Forum: Algeria and Chad recommended that Nigeria should consider making the National Consultative Forum a regular bi-annual event, as a tool to promote dialogue and comprehension in the field of human rights: This recommendation is acceptable.  After the first National Consultative Forum, participants recommended that the event should be held yearly;

(e)    Combating corruption:  Cote d’Ivoire, Turkey and Cuba: recommended that Nigeria should continue with its efforts to combat corruption, and EFCC should be encouraged to play a leading role in this process.  This is an acceptable recommendation.

(f)     Promotion of Human Rights: Djibouti, Mozambique, Morocco, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, D.R.C., and Indonesia recommended that Nigeria should consolidate its achievements in the field of human rights and democracy, as well as pursue its 7-Point Development Agenda.  This is acceptable;

(g)    Invitation to UN Special Procedures:  Mexico, Norway, Ukraine, Austria and Angola recommended that Nigeria should consider giving an open invitation to all UN Human Rights Council special procedures.  Acceptable in principle, subject to negotiation with the OHCHR;

(h)    Peace-building:  Nepal recommended that Nigeria should share its experience in promoting human rights with other countries in the sub-region, while Niger wanted Nigeria to continue with the efforts of promoting religious harmony in the country:  This is an acceptable recommendation.

(i)     Same Gender Marriage Bill:  Canada and Finland recommended that Nigeria should eliminate all existing legislation that discriminate based on gender and sexual orientation, and to take measures to recognize the rights of sexual minorities.  Furthermore, the law prohibiting same-sex marriage should be abrogated:  An appropriate response should be obtained after close consultation with the Federal Ministry of Justice.

(j)     The Death Penalty:  Brazil, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Italy, Turkey, Sweden, UK, New Zealand, and Azerbaijan all recommended that Nigeria should consider establishing a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, leading to the abolishment of capital punishment in the country.  In addition, current death sentences should be commuted:  This is a constitutional and legal issue.  An appropriate response should be obtained after close consultation with the Federal Ministry of Justice.

(k)    Extrajudicial Killings and Torture:  Benin, Germany, Ukraine, The Netherlands, Ireland and UK all recommended that take practical steps to put an end to the accusations of extrajudicial executions, prevent the use of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments: An appropriate response should be obtained in close collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice.

(l)     Discrimination Against Women: Norway, Mexico and Ireland recommended that Nigeria should repeal all laws that allow violence and discrimination against women, as well as to ensure that Nigerian women get equality before the law:  An appropriate response should be obtained after close collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice and Women Affairs.

(m)   Protection of Children and Harmful Traditional Practices: Indonesia, The Holy See, Italy, Austria, Ukraine, Qatar, Norway and Ireland recommended that Nigeria should intensify efforts through legislation and practical measures to protect children against violence, especially during communal and religious crisis.  Children should also be insulated against harmful traditional practices, like witchcraft and to enact legislation against female genital mutilation (FGM): This recommendation should be acceptable, after due consultation with Federal Ministry of Justice and Women Affairs.

(n)    Trafficking in Women and Children: The Netherlands, Bahrain, France, Belarus, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Angola and Canada recommended that Nigeria should consider strengthening its efforts in the area of combating trafficking of women and children by cooperating closely with countries in the region, as well as relevant international organizations:  This recommendation is acceptable.

(o)  The Criminal Justice System: Belgium, Mexico, Slovakia, Denmark recommended that Nigeria should take specific measures in order to improve its criminal justice system, and to establish an independent and effective national investigative mechanism.  Furthermore, all perpetrators of human rights violations should be brought to justice, including the law enforcement officials suspected to committing acts of torture and ill-treatment or extrajudicial executions:  This recommendation should be accepted after consultation with the Federal Ministry of Justice;

(p)    Rights of Detainees and Conditions of Detention Centres: UK, Portugal, France, Germany and Austria recommended that Nigeria should take action to tackle the backlog of prisoners who have been detained without trial or beyond the end of their sentence.  Nigeria should consider establishing a board of independent inspectors to examine conditions in detention facilities and the behaviour of police officers, and separate detention facilities for persons under the age of 18 should be created:  This recommendation should be accepted in principle;

(q)    Freedom of Expression: France and Canada recommended that freedom of expression, especially for the press, should be respected. Nigeria should accept this recommendation, as long as freedom of expression, especially for the press remains within the ambit of our laws on libel and defamation.

(r)     Healthcare Services:  Malaysia, Belarus, The Holy See, Germany and Botswana, recommended that Nigeria should make more strenuous efforts improve the reproductive health-care services, especially maternal and child mortality, as well as the fight against HIV/AIDS:  This recommendation is acceptable.

(s)     Education: The Holy See, Venezuela, Belarus, Yemen and Italy, recommended that Nigeria should consider investing more in education in order to reduce the country’s illiteracy rate further, especially among girls and young women.  Human rights education should be taught in all schools:  This recommendation is acceptable;

(t)     Minority Rights: UK, Germany, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Botswana, Poland and Denmark, recommended that Nigeria should take steps to address discrimination against minority and vulnerable groups, especially the “indigene/settler” divide.  Nigeria should create a National Minorities Commission, as well as introduce the teaching of religious tolerance in schools.  Also, Nigeria should ensure that non-Muslims are not subjected to the Sharia law:  This recommendation is should be accepted in principle.

(u)    Technical Assistance:  Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Pakistan, Sudan, Algeria, and Iran, recommended that Nigeria should seek technical assistance from OHCHR in the area of improving the efficiency of the country’s criminal justice system, human rights education, child trafficking and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.  This recommendation is acceptable.  Nigeria has already indicated areas where it needs technical assistance in her National Report.

OBSERVATIONS

Our UPR session was one of Nigeria’s most successful outings in recent time.  The six-month intensive preparation for the Review, the quality of information provided in our National Report, the robust opening statement and excellent presentation by HMFA were overwhelming against the onslaughts of allegations from both national and international NGOs.  The high-level of our delegation (HMFA, Minister of Justice/AGF, Senators) also helped in securing considerable deference from several delegations.  HMFA and the remaining members of the delegation have done a patriotic job of defending Nigeria in extremely difficult circumstances.  

There have been numerous criticisms of our human rights records, especially over extrajudicial killings by the Police, large number of persons in detention without trial, torture by our security forces, violent communal and religious conflicts leading to loss of lives of thousands of Nigerians, harmful traditional practices and widowhood rites, etc.  Nigeria has been tasked to find a solution to the huge criticisms of extrajudicial killings and torture by its security forces, by many delegations during the interactive session of the UPR.   With regard to socio-economic and cultural rights, the rate of infant and maternal mortality in Nigeria calls for urgent action.  The high infant mortality in Nigeria is only compared to Sierra Leone, Angola, Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, Eretria, Malawi, etc.   The maternal mortality rate is even worse, with Nigeria ranked second in the world, according to UNICEF.  Several international human rights NGOs have also criticized Nigeria for not doing much to eradicate polio in the country.  Nigeria is among the only four countries in the world that still have polio.

While the delegation had put up a robust and successful defence of Nigeria’s human rights records during the Review, it is equally imperative to look inward and take the required measures to reduce the amount of criticisms levelled against the country.  Almost all the 60 countries that made intervention during our Review came up with some recommendations for Nigeria.  Some of these recommendations should be taken seriously if Nigeria wants to improve her human rights records.

Our National Consultative Forum was commended by many delegations.  From all indications, many countries will adopt this type of broad-based consultations in their UPR preparations.  We informed the WG that Government would consider making the National Consultative Forum an annual event.

 

RECOMMENDATION: ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED BEFORE THE ADOPTION OF THE WORKING GROUP’S RECOMMENDATIONS AT THE 11^TH SESSION OF HRC

 

Nigeria is expected to respond to all the 32 recommendations made to her at the plenary of the 11^th Session of the Council in June, 2009.  As a member of the Human Rights Council, it is expected that Nigeria should consider positively most of the recommendations, as a means of promoting and protecting human rights of her citizens.  At the time of adopting these recommendations by the UPR Working Group, on behalf of Nigeria, I promised that Nigeria would look into these recommendations seriously and give an appropriate response at the 11^th Session of Human Rights Council, taking place in June, when the recommendations would be adopted in plenary.

However, before the session it is important that an inter-ministerial meeting is held to consider the recommendations of the Working Group and articulate an appropriate response to them.  Thereafter, a memo should be sent to Council for approval to commit Nigeria to the implementation of the recommendations agreeable to us.  Luckily, both our National Report and HMFA’s opening statement indicated the efforts being made by Nigeria to implement some of the recommendations identified by the Working Group.

More than 70% of the recommendations should not pose any difficulties in accepting.  However, we are a sovereign state, guided by a Constitution and law.  Therefore, any recommendation that is in conflict with our Constitution and statute books cannot be imposed on us.  In such a case, we can only note the recommendation but make it clear that such recommendation violates our constitution.

We must find a way of letting the world know that we do not condone torture and extrajudicial killings in Nigeria.  The accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OP-CAT), which we did two weeks before our review was evidence that Government has the political will to fight these vices.  However, even if it is a perception, it has become a reality before the world that extrajudicial killings by our security forces are routinely carried out, while government turns a blind eye to this vice.  As the Ministry answerable to the UN for violation of human rights in Nigeria, it is now more than ever before, pertinent that we inform Government that all practical measures should be taken to prevent and prosecute acts of torture and other ill-treatment according to international standards.   In this regard the recommendation by Germany that Nigeria should create a Board of Independent Inspectors, charged with the responsibility of monitoring conditions in detention facilities and the behaviour of police officers, and should be seriously considered by government.

Against the background of the spate of religious and communal violence that Nigeria keeps experiencing, with one before the UPR (Jos) and another one after (Bauchi), the recommendation for a Commission on Inter-Religious and Inter-Ethnic Tolerance should also be seriously considered by government.  Similarly, we should also consider the recommendation on teaching inter-religious and inter-ethnic tolerance in all our schools.

 

NPS PARTNERS WITH UNODC ON TRAINING

As part of the reform effort geared towards the attainment of sustainable Human Resource development in the Service, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has stepped on to fat track the training of Prison officers.

Speaking after signing the agreement to flag off this training, the country representative of the UNODC Ms Dagmar Thomas said that the proposed training programme is only the beginning of a long programme of strategic intervention designed to place the Nigerian Prisons Service on the correct pedestal to serve Nigeria better.

The training which will come in these components are designed to provide refresher courses for the NPS top brass (ACGs – DCGs) at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Koru. The middle level senior officers (DCPs and CPs) will have their own training at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, Badagry. The rest made up of ACPs and CSPs will have their slot at the Staff College Kaduna.

Ms Dagman Thomas paid glowing tributes to the British High Commission Abuja which is funding the programme as part of their contribution t the reform of the Criminal Justice mechanism in Nigeria.

The agreement was signed by Ms Thomas on behalf of both the UNODC and the British High Commission while Dr Peter C. Ekpendu (ACG) signed on behalf of the Controller-General of Prisons, Mr Olusola Ogundipe. It was witnessed by the legal Adviser Mr Sam Obong, Esq. Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Ekpendu thanked the UNODC on behalf of the CGP stating that it was gratifying to note that the prison reform which started in earnest is 2005 was gathering momentum with assistance coming from all sides. He commended the British Council, the donor agency and promised that the officers will be available for the training when it commences.

It will be recalled that the UNODC and Prison have been collaborating on various areas of Prison reform. It was the UNODC partnering with Reform Ministry International and other procurement Nigerians that launched the first fund raiser in 2007 for Prison reforms during which the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo donated one million naira. The UNODC has also collaborated with the Prisons on Drugs and Crime control.

DFID’S SJG REORGANISE THE NPS

The British Department for International Development’s Security Justice and Growth Programme (SJG) has finally reorganized the Department of Planning, Research and Statistics in the Nigerian Prisons Service. This followed the conclusion of a training programme organised by the SJG for some selected Prison officers to mark the end of the exercise.

The SJG had interacted with the prison hierarchy and noticed that there was really no coordinated planning and implementation strategy in the management of the Nation’s prisons. It was also noticed by them that the absence of central planning gave room to arbitrariness and loss of focus.

They therefore decided to help develop a virile Planning, Research and Statistics Unit to help in evolving the culture of management by objectives. The training which took place at the Rockview Hotel Abuja was the climax of a process that took a greater part of one year.

The SJG secured the services of Prof Saidu Dino Aminu of the Dan Fodio University who came to Abuja and studied the administrative set-up at the headquarters. He also had interactive sessions with many heads of Directorates and units. He then presented a report to management and read his findings. He acknowledged the existence of PRS in the NPS but lamented that it was tucked into the operations directorate and rendered completely otiose by way it was used. He pointed out that ideally the PRS should be governance unit at the very top of conceptualisation and implementation of programmes. But he regretted that the PRS in the NPS was not so. He also took a look at the staffing o f the unit and discovered that there were many square pegs in round holes in terms of qualification and experience. He therefore went ahead to delineate the various officers that should make up the Planning Research and Statistics, the pedigree of the officers who should be there and then job profiles. He also recommended that the DPRS should be a pan-organisational phenomenon attached to the office of the CGP.  

Professor Saidu held several strategy sessions with the top management. The idea was to sell the concept to them, get them to embrace this modern management system and put to use the great potentials in them. His reorganisation format made room for Planning officers. Before now there was nothing like planning in the NPS. He also created the evaluation and monitoring sub-units which together with Planning will constitute a unit that plans and ensures that all approved plans are not monitored and evaluated.

It is to the credit of the Controller-General Mr Olusola Ogundipe that such a programme took place. In all the strategy sessions, he kept affirming that his regime was open to enthroning the culture of planning and evaluation based on research and data as part of everyday transaction.

Professor Dino Seidu was also not unaware of the fact that the battle was of the mind and soul of the top brass. “People are used to doing things in this way and the idea of a DPRS taking centre stage will be viewed with suspicion. But we will work on them he said.

There was a general consensus that the absence of a DPRS playing a prominent role in the affairs of the NPS has led to losses in the past. Not only were plans not backed by research and data, the plans themselves were not always monitored and articulated. With the DPRS now attached to the Office of the Controller-General, all these should be a theory of the past.

It was therefore a delighted CGP that took delivery of the Prof Dino’s report with a promise to implement it to the letter. And to demonstrate their desire to introduce this apparently novel concept, the members of the management team also promised to make it workable through cooperating with the unit as soon as it is created. As we go to press, we are happy to announce that the CGP has appointed planning officers at the PHQ.

The report also commended the Research office for the yoman’s role it has played especially in the area of new initiatives and concepts which found their expression in many editions of The Reformer magazine. But the report was quick to point out that the unit needs to expand both in terms of accommodation and numbers so that the scope of its operations could be widened. Indeed the consensus of the opinion is that the DPRS will begin to function as a governance unit attached to the office of the Controller-General. This is because while it was a part of the Operations directorate, other directorates could not utilise its services because they thought it would be tantamount to one directorate interfering in the affairs of the other. And that was the very reason offered by the Prof Dino report one of the factors that adversely affected its utilisation.

It was therefore agreed that when the PHQ moves to its new site, the DPRS will not only be properly organised because accommodation will be available, it will start to operate as a unit under the Office of the CGP.

The SJG has promised to provide the needed tools to help the unit start. As a mark of this commitment it donated a full set of computers and other accessories to the statistics unit to put it in a strong position to generate data. 

 

FIRST YEAR UNDERGRADUATES MATRICULATE AT THE MEDIUM SECURITY PRISON KIRIKIRI: PFN AT WORK 

By Ernest Chigbogu

They looked like matriculating students in a regular university academic session. They were rather some inmates of Medium Security Prison, Kirikiri Lagos who were the pioneer undergraduates of Life Recovery Pre-Release Empowerment Programme, otherwise called the Onesimus Project.

The occasion was the First Matriculation Ceremony of Life Recovery Pre-Release Empowerment Programme (aka Onesimus Project) Campus Lagos. The Onesimus Project is a project of the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and it is aimed at empowering inmates whose stay in the prison was short – less than one year. The aim is to properly prepare these about-to-be-released inmates for life after prison. The training programme includes therapy, counselling, vocational skills acquisition and cognitive studies for duration of eighteen months starting from six months before release from prison to 12 months after release.

The PFN does not carry out this onerous task alone but does so in partnership with Covenant University, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and of course the Nigerian Prisons Service.

The Controller of Prisons, Lagos State, Mr Bogunjoko in his welcome address welcomed all to the occasion and took the opportunity to pay glowing tributes to the PFN and the other partners for the wonderful work they were doing in the lives of the prison inmates. He admonished the students to take the programme seriously pointing out that the ultimate beneficiary was themselves. He stated that the programmes was designed to empower them so that their minds will not be idle after discharge but will be engaged in meaningful ventures which will pay them and the society at large.

The Executive Directors, PFN, Benson Iwuagwu, Esq gave more insight into what the Onesimus project was all about. He said it is aimed at checking reoffending by ex-inmates, reducing the rate of recidivism, improving human capital and socio-economic quotient of ex-inmates, easing their re-entry into society, rehabilitation and reintegration into meaningful socio-cultural and economic lives. These, he said, were noble ideals, which are in tandem with Mr President’s Seven Point Agenda.

The real horror of imprisonment according to him was not the confinement per se but the ‘“thought” of life sentence in shadows of existence shorn of company and community’. He therefore made a case for the abrogation of all discriminatory laws against the employment of ex-inmates, whether statute of conventional. He reiterated this point by stating that 95% of our prison inmates are in their prime (18-35 years), hence the need to put in place social policies that enhance the proper rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-inmates.

Mr Benson took time to explain the import of the green ribbon worn by guest and participants at the matriculation ceremony, saying it symbolised hope for the inmates – a sign of welcome and accommodation to returning ex-inmates back into society.

He finally called on all well-meaning Nigerians, both individual and corporate to join in this very crucial social service. He glowingly acknowledged the partners for their passion and commitment to this humanitarian project. And finally to the students he admonished them to seize the opportunity to better their lot.

Next was the address by the governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Babatunde Fashola, SAN who was supposed to be the Chief Special guest of honour. He was represented by the Director poverty Alleviation Programme, Mrs Diola Adepoju who read the former’s address. The governor commended the organisers of the programme and urged the beneficiaries to take the programme seriously as the knowledge acquired will not only serve as source of livelihood but will also help them to firmly stamp their feet on the ground and say an emphatic No to crime. He called on all humanitarian organisations, individuals and corporate bodies to be part of this train to better our society.

The controller-General of Prisons, O. A. Ogundipe OFR mni was unavoidably absent at the occasion as he was busy in Abuja attending to other important official assignment at the national assembly. However, he was represented by the ACG Medical, Mrs Nwosu who read his address on his behalf. The CGP in his speech acknowledged the fact that partnering with the NPS goes to show the fact that the PFN and the other partners have bought into the radical shift in penal management and administration which emphasises reformation through skill acquisition and empowerment of offenders rather than punishment. He went on to stress the need for such reorientation because there is a nexus between security and the reintegration and welfare of ex-convicts on the one hand and between security and socio-economic development on the other. As a corollary therefore there is a direct link between the proper reintegration of ex-convicts and socio-economic development of any country.

The CGP informed those present that the NPS locks more than 45,000 persons in the nation’s prisons, hence the need to properly them because they could portend security threat and risk if released without reintegration. Using Japan as a reference point he stressed the need to take matter in question more seriously stating that the low crime rate in Japan is a natural result of a well developed aftercare services for discharged prison inmates. It follows that relative crime rate will transcend to a stable and secure environment conducive for socio economic investment and growth.      

He called on the government to revisit our employment policy, since it is the highest employer of labour in Nigeria, to the effect that conviction status will be immaterial when it comes to employment.

Concluding his address he called to mind that the benefits of proper reformation and reintegration are enormous and must not be allowed to be lost otherwise the society will continue to pay for it.

The Director, SMEDAN, Alhaji Mohammed Nadada Umar did not anybody in doubt of his competence as he delivered as address on ‘Micro-economic Empowerment – A Tool for Crime Curtailment.” In a short but precise address he enumerated his agency’s past interventions in this regard. He said SMEDAN is committed to ensuring that each participant is economically empowered within and outside the prison walls. He assured all that SMEDAN will always be willing and ready to facilitate access to all the resources the trainee inmate would need to grow and develop in business endeavour of his/her choice after prison incarceration.

Other speakers spoke at the occasion among who is Dr Kunle Oyeyemi who represented Prof Aiza Obayan, VC Covenant University and others.  

Other activities included the presentation of the matriculating Students and Oath-taking by the students, administered by Dr A. A. Shobola of Covenant University.

 

 

 

OTUKPO CONNECTION

By O. A. Osayande (DCP)

I left Kaduna early hours of 6^th July, 2009 at about 6.30am to Makurdi, the Benue State Capital. On arrival, I submitted my letter of posting to the Controller of prisons Benue State Command and proceeded to Otukpo, I got there late in the evening. I must say the truth, that Otukpo is a quiet and relatively peaceful town.

Otukpo Prison capacity is 118 and well kept environment. The Prison receives its prisoners from nine local government areas if Idoma Kingdom. This is a big challenge because Otukpo prison has one mini Black Maria that takes inmates to court. Consequently some of the awaiting trial persons have not been going to court at their adjournment day. The only solution to the problem is by acquiring additional vehicle, which can enable us to take prisoners to their various courts as at when due. Without wasting much time, we swung into action immediately, and I decided to reach out to all prominent sons and daughters of the Idoma Kingdom. Through Mr Igbetua Jephthat (PA III). I met the honourable Senate President of Federal Republic of Nigeria – Chief David Mark at his golf club Otukpo. We discussed one on one, and I must confess that I was humbled by the Senate President immediate approval.

The honourable Senate President kept to his promise on the 23^rd September, 2009, he graciously donated 18-seater but to Otukpo staff and inmates respectively. This huge donation is indeed unprecedented  in the history of Nigerian Prisons Service, because it is rare for a man of history like the President of the Senate, to have personal touch with prisoners and staff. This kind gesture demonstrated by the Senate President is indeed a response to the Controller General of prisons Mr Olusola Adigun Ogundipe, OFR, mni reach out strategy with individual and public for Prison reforms.

We have received materials from Young Alhaji Foundation that were donated to Prison inmates on request. Plans are at advance stage to reach out to the nine local government areas of the Idoma Kingdom to enlighten them the role they should play in accepting ex-convict into their communities, and solicit for other assistance. The communities are becoming aware of the great effort of Federal Government in reformation, rehabilitation and integration of offenders and the need to compliment her effort in this direction cannot be overemphasized.

We shall continue to do our best through total commitment and dedication to duty so as to enable our hard working, and visionary leader, the Controller-General of Prisons to achieve his goal of repositioning the Nigerian Prisons Service.

 

SHAGAYA COMMENDS OGUNDIPE

A one-time Minister of Internal Affairs, and now a senator of the Federal Register, Brigadier John Nanzip Shagaya, has commended the Controller-General of Prisons, Mr Olusola Ogundipe for the developmental changes taking place in Nigerian Prisons today.

The former Minister who spoke to Leadership’s Ejike Umunnabuike in Abuja said that these developmental changes have been manifested in terms of physical development, administration management incentives to officers and men of the Service as well as prompt payment of salaries. He specially commended Mr Ogundipe for spearheading a positive campaign that has changed the image of the Service.

He noted that Mr Ogundipe’s administrative approach in redefining the social problems affecting the prison was targeted at balancing behaviour modification process, had in recent times aided the management of the prisons in confronting the challenges thrown-up by societal dynamics.

He commended the quality of the staff of the Nigerian Prisons Service today saying that it has helped in improving the prison administration saying that all these attempts are geared towards making the NPS a 21 Century prison system which the world would accept.

Going down memory lane, Senator Shagaya recalled that because of the quality of staff associated with Prisons about sixty years ago, they were simply waved away gandrovers (gang-drivers) which meant prison warders. He stated that the job was not attractive hence no one wanted to do it and this led to negative social tag which brought about a lot of hatred towards the job.

He commended the intense training and capacity building taking place today pointing out that it has made a lot of difference in the prison of today.

Senator Shagaya should know. He was the convener of the first workshop on Prison reforms in June 1990. The workshop brought together the best brains on Prison and Criminal Justice Administration and many scholarly and practical papers on Criminal Justice Administration were delivered at the workshop. The communiqués produced at that workshop is to his credit, the work plan for driving prisons reforms today.

Senator John Shagaya was also credited with initiating the transfer of endowed human resource from other sectors and services into the Prisons, Immigration and Customs Services. Although the exercise was abused, it never-the-less opened the for an army of relatively more enlightened workforce to join the Prisons Service.

He consequently commended the reforms taking place in the training schools and the Staff College and the soon-to-come-on-stream Prison Academy.               

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEATURES

 DECONGESTION OF COURTS AND PRISONS: THE WAY FORWARD

Discussion paper presented by the Controller-General of Prisons, Mr Olusola Ogundipe, OFR, mni at the induction course for newly appointed judges and kadis on 22^nd june, 2009 at National Judicial Institute, Abuja

PROTOCOL

INTRODUCTION

It is indeed a privilege for me to be in your midst today to share ideas about a topic so dear to my heart. It is the issue of courts and prisons congestion. It is a privilege because I cannot think of any forum that can tackle this matter more efficiently and practically than this one

I want to start by saying that the present face of Criminal Justice delivery System in Nigeria is far from the ideal. It could be noticed that we have become accustomed to seeing remand of suspects in prison custody as the end of judicial processes. It is sad that we see the prison yard as a convenient warehouse where any accused person can be dumped without minding what happens afterwards. It may even surprise you that quite a number of enlightened and well-placed people see this as the ideal. For these people the moment a suspect is arrested, arraigned before a court and remanded in Prison, the key should be thrown away. If the suspect rots away in Prison, it is nobody’s business. I want to point out objectively that many practitioners in the Criminal Justice Sector today are either in this group or are tolerant of the methods.

PRISON CONGESTION - ATP

It is this attribute that informs why the Prison System in Nigeria has for the last 20 or 25 years been grappling with the dominance of awaiting trials persons in our Prisons. In 1985 the total number of prisoners in our prisons was 53,786 and out of this number 21,515 or 40 percent were awaiting trial. By 1990 the figure has changed slightly to 55,331 inmates, comprising of 27,665 or 50 percent awaiting trial. By 2000 the total number of inmates in Prisons was 43,312, with a total of 26,485 ATPs representing 61 percent. This of course was without prejudice to all the measures put in place to ensure that the Criminal Justice operations were consistent with the provisions of the Constitution. One of these measures was the abrogation of the Failed Bank decree which reverted the trial of failed bank managers to the Federal High Courts leading to a whole lot of those held under the decree going on bail. Others include regular prison visits by the Legal Aid Council and other groups. 

By 2005 the number in the prisons hovered somewhat around 38,328 with 28,363 or 74 percent yet representing the awaiting trial population. As we approach year 2010 the figures do not show signs of improving. As at January this year the figures were a total of 41,524 prisoners with 29,372 awaiting trial. This translates to about 71 percent of the inmates’ population. 

PRISON CONGESTION / URBANISATION

Though I have given the statistics of our inmates population fr some years, this does not reflect the whole story. This is because this congestion of ATPs is mainly an urban phenomenon, afflicting about 30 urban prisons across the country. If you take these prisons individually, you will be shocked at what confronts you. Perhaps a few examples will suffice:

·        Port Harcourt prisons was built for 804 inmates, but today Port Harcourt prisons locks up a total of 2500 persons, out of which only 284 are convicts.

·        Owerri prison was built to accommodate 548 persons but today it has over 1,200 in custody and only 106 of these persons are convicts.

·        Ikoyi prison was built to accommodate 800 persons but today it is holding 2,366 persons out of which only 44 are convicts.

I could go on and on to give you examples of this type of congestion in our prisons. As we can observe from the statistics presented before you, where we have congestion in prisons is among the ATPs. The only way we can reduce that congestion is by strengthening our judicial processes and capacities to deal with case backlogs.

CONSEQUENCES ON PRISONS ADMINISTRATION

The last 25 years of progressive ATP congestion has robbed prisons administration of the ability to focus on its primary mandate. The primary mandate of the prison is to train and treat convicted prisoners so that on discharge they will rejoin society as normal law abiding citizens. It did not provide for the reform of suspects awaiting trial, who in any case are regarded as innocent until proven guilty by courts of law. What the prisons have been doing all these years is to ensure safe and secure custody of suspects awaiting trial rather than training and reforming convicted persons which is our core mandate.

From my presentation, you would have noticed a progressive decline in the convict population as a ratio of the overall prison population from 60% in 1985 to 29% in 2009. This means that progressively the convict population which the prison is expected to work on has steadily declined. This is not good for National security and social development as it makes the reform of convicts a distant unattainable dream for the prisons service.     

We have almost come to accept this scenario as normal without counting the cost to our nation in terms of internal peace and security. Ideally anyone sentenced to prison term is expected to be worked on by the prisons so that at the end of his term, he could rejoin society as a normal law abiding person.

However, where majority of the people in prison are awaiting trial this objective cannot be realised. An army of ATPs in prison is a danger to society because, while in custody, they tend to sharpen their criminal skills through interaction with other ATPs, to the extent that when they are released they return to crimes immediately.

It could now be insinuated rightly that ATP detention period in Nigeria is considered a rest period in for many criminals. They are no longer interested in going to courts, and when they get to courts they ask their lawyers to take long adjournments so that the cases do not get regularly called up. Indeed some suspects are no longer interested in engaging lawyers thereby leading to intervention from the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation. It is their  believe that if they stay in prison for long time, they will be released to go back to what they know how to do best – crime.

The result is that Nigeria is faced with a very complex task of how to come out of this web of crime and criminality.

PRESSURES ON PRISON SECURITY

This congestion has put a lot of pressure on the management of our prisons it will be logical to see each congested prison as a time bomb waiting to explode. In the past few weeks, we have had to contend with the antics of restive inmates in four major urban and congested prisons. These are Kaduna, Kano, Owerri and Enugu. While we were able to nip the first two in the bud, the last two degenerated into open riots leading to damage to property and loss of lives, and physical injuries to poison officers

Each time you go on to investigate these trouble spots, the underlying causal agents are the same – (frustrations arising from unending wait for trials). What you see is that the prisoners are so tensed up by this indefinite stay in the prison that at the slightest opportunity they want to break out en-masse to freedom. Some have even said that it is better to die attempting to escape than to stay hoping for trial that will never come. It is as bad as that.

CAUSES OF PRISON CONGESTION

What, you may ask is the cause ATP congestion is Prison? I will say without reservation that it is slow judicial processes. For more than two decades, many of our courts have tended to treat remand in custody as the end of the criminal justice processes.

A few years ago a survey of conviction rates was conducted, in the country, and it was discovered that there were just 12 convictions in 40,000 per annum.

THE WAY OUT

There are some scenarios I want us to look at as we deal with this topic. These are some of the scenarios you will meet in the field as you try to decongest the courts and the Prisons. The first is the role of the police vis-a-vis prisons and court congestion. My experience shows that there are cases that should not have gone to court at all. Cases that are within the competence of the Police Desk sergeant to resolve at the Police Stations. The idea of “Let the Court Decide” fuel congestion. Policemen should therefore be trained to look out for such cases that should not go to court  and deal with them at the Police Station level.

The other is the fate of files sent to the Director of Public Prosecution in various states. I want to state from experience that wherever you see ATP congestion in any prison take a look at the office of the DPP. What you find is a quantum of files awaiting advice indefinitely.

In view of this I believe judges have the right to dismiss the charges for either want of prosecution or want of diligent  prosecution.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I want to say that it is not a time for apportioning blames, but we all know that the Criminal Justice System is made up of interrelated institutions that must work together to ensure internal security. It is made up of the police and other enforcement agencies, like the judiciary and the Prisons. All these institutions must work together to make sure that the aims of criminal prosecution and containment are achieved. It is expected that the law enforcers will arrest and arraign, while the courts will adjudicate and convict or set free. The Prisons is then expected to contain and reform for the judicial processes to come a full circle. When all efforts are limited to only endless remand, the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System as a guarantor of internal peace and security is greatly hampered.

This is why court congestion lead to Prison congestion which in itself is a threat to National Security. This must be dealt with promptly if we hope to attain the Vision 20 – 2020. Our courts must rise up to the challenges of criminal justice prosecution in order to clean these backlogs of ATPs in our prisons. A situation where suspects wait for trial for 10 to 15 years is absurd by every standards. We must be in a position to enforce a system that ensures that no matter the crime, a suspect should be able to know his fate within a year. We should be able to determine the most serious cases within a year failing which the suspect is released if the case against him cannot be rounded off within the period. We should be able to remind ourselves at all times that the Prison is for the treatment of convicted persons and not a receptacle for Awaiting Trials. When we do that we shall have put in place a criminal justice structure that will match the aspirations of Mr President in the 7-point Agenda of the present administration in Nigeria.

Thank you for listening.     

 

GOVERNMENT, THE PRISONS AND SOCIETY

By Reuben Abati

The decision of the Federal Executive Council to commit more resources with effect from January 1, 2008 to the maintenance and upgrading of the country’s prisons and the welfare of prisoners as part of a prison reform package is in order, but the measures that have so far been outlined by the Federal Government do not address the enormity of the problem. The Federal Executive Council decided to increase the daily feeding allowance for prisoners from N150 to N200. This is still less than two dollars a day.

In addition, government is also planning to upgrade the facilities in the prisons, ensure regular supply of potable water and cooking gas, while the office of the Attorney General of the Federation will arrange for lawyers to assist the inmates so that “all will have access to fair hearing”. This is not the first time that the Federal Government would promise to do something about the welfare of prisoners, but always, the promise are never translated into concrete action. The truth is that the nation’s prisons are the equivalent of hell. The situation is so bad that President Umaru Yar’Adua needs to declare a state of emergency in the nation’s prisons.

In the past three years alone, there have been reports of jailbreak of riots in the nation’s prisons arising from prisoners’ dissatisfaction with their welfare. The most recent example in this regard is the riot at the Agodi prisons in Ibadan where the inmates went on rampage seizing every possible weapon on sight as they turned their anger on the warders. One of their colleagues had reportedly died due to poor medical attention. In other prisons, the cause of riot had been poor feeding, and the cruelty of the state. The Federal Government wants to increase the daily feeding allowance for prisoners from N150 to N200. This is ridiculous. What can N200 buy in today’s Nigeria? A loaf of bread is about N120.

The Federal Government also wants to upgrade the facilities by supplying water and cooking gas. The only kind of upgrading that the prisons require is a complete rebuilding of the infrastructure. Nigeria cannot boast of a modern prison. Most of our prisons were built by the colonial authorities and they have not seen any form of expansion or rebuilding since then. With the exponential increase in national population, the collapse of the economy, the loss of values and a sharp rise in crime, the prisons have received more inmates and they have become congested. an average prison that is built to accommodate 100 persons now holds more that 500 with the inmates cramped into small spaces like animals.

In many counties of the world, animals are even treated better. In Nigerian prisons, there are no toilet facilities, no proper beds, ventilation is poor, and the warders and security men in charge of the prisons are natural sadists. I will recommend that bulldozers be sent to our prisons one after the other, and that the structures be pulled down and rebuilt completely: If we do not know what a proper prison should look like, we can copy models from more advanced countries, or simply follow common sense and transform our prisons into environments where failed citizens can be reformed, where even the condemned can enjoy the pleasure of being human before facing hangman. Our prisons fail the human right test. They have become mental wards, populated by persons who are victims of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression induced by inhuman conditions, as well as the negligence, incompetence and irresponsibility of the state.

Poor funding has always been a major issue in prison administration. Even the warders complain. At the last Federal Executive council, government considered the option of involving the state in prison administration. This is a good idea. Indeed, the Constitution should be reviewed to make prison service a concurrent function. The over-centralisation of prisons administration has resulted in a uniformity of outlook and style, and gross inefficiency. The Ministry of the Interior (formerly Internal Affairs) has proved incapable of managing the nation’s prisons. The Federal Government can provide broad policy guidelines, but each state should be allowed to run its own prisons.

Running a prison ought not to result in competition over power and space; it is not the same thing as creating a state police (!), and it is not a political instrument since very few politicians would like to refer to the prison as their constituency, but simply a question of human rights and justice. In addition, the prison levels should be more properly defined. The level of security and treatment should be determined by the severity of felony; a minimum prison should be different from an medium prison and both from a maximum prison. In Nigeria, every prison is currently a maximum prison, including the police cell.

But the problem with our prisons is really jurisprudential, with a direct and empirical effect on the justice administration system. The justice system in Nigeria is accusatorial, abusive, punitive and sadistic. Pray never to have anything to do with the justice system in Nigeria. The law says that a man is adjudged innocent until proven guilty, but the opposite is more the case. From the police station to the courts to the prisons, the accused person is exposed to the most unthinkable form of humiliation. It is as if every person in the chain of justice is a graduate of the school of sadism.

The wickedness of the Nigerian Police needs not to be described afresh; it is already a legend. Police cells are spilling over with accused persons who are being kept against their wil and who may not ber charged to court, unless they are willing to bribe the Divisional Police Officer and his men. Bail is said to be free at the police station, but the police insist on payment; they transform themselves into a court of law. Many Nigerians would rather pay the ransom than face humiliation. Even court bail is difficult to process; the bureaucracy is horrendous, and in a country where transportation is difficult and documentation is poor, satisfying court bail conditions could take days.

In the meantime, the accused person is remanded in prison custody where after a few days of exposure to raw inhumanity, he or she would be a changed person for life. The worst victims are the persons who are called “awaiting trial persons”. There are 40,000 inmates in Nigerian prisons, we are told that about eighty percent of then are ATMs. This is not the kind of statistics that government should be quoting. It is an indictment on the justice system. Justice delayed, it is said, is justice denied. Justice is forever delayed in Nigeria. The courts are over-burdened; the judges are over-worked; prosecutors and investigators are either incompetent or they are handicapped.

The United States has the largest population of convicted persons in the world: about seven million with about 2.2 million behind bars. China is second with a population of 1.5 million prison inmates. Both countries have been strongly criticised for not doing enough for their prisoners, but whatever excesses may exist in the United States and China are incomparable to the Nigerian system. In Nigeria, prisoner-on-prisoner violence, state-on-prisoner violence, rape of female inmates, official brutality and other forms of abuses are commonplace.

The curious operative philosophy is that it is the man who has a case to answer who is at fault. And everybody from the police man to the secretary in the Court Registrar’s office to the prison warder treats you as if you are sub-human, they place you at their mercy. In the justice chain in Nigeria, there is no such thing as natural justice: no conception of the need to do “unto others as you would wish them to do unto you.” This lack of humanity is what is the reason why members of the Federal Executive Council whose members feed their own children with more than N120 per meal would decide that N200 per day is enough to feed prison inmates many of whom have not even been found guilty of any wrongdoing. It is also the reason why pensioners would not be paid their entitlements.

In other parts of the world, the prison is a correctional facility. The Philosophy is that human beings can be reformed and made to adapt to new behaviour. Jurisprudentially, wrong-doers are given a chance to redeem themselves. This is why in the United States, they have such options as parole, suspended sentences and hours of community work. Many of the States have also abandoned the death penalty. In stricter juristic systems, the prison system is no less reformatory. Here in Nigeria, the only persons who can go to prison and still have a life thereafter are rich and influential people. In fact, this class of Nigerians ends up in prison only for political reasons, in other circumstances; they are placed above the law by the distortions within the justice system.    

Ours is a country of big men, and to be a big man means having the ability to buy anything including justice. In our prisons for example, there is no equality among the inmates. A rich inmate who is temporarily incarcerated can buy up the entire prison: from superintendent to fellow inmates. The Nigerian prison operates like a hotel. If you have the means, you can take a Presidential Suite, or a double bed accommodation, but if you are unlucky and poor, you get thrown into the midst of hardened criminals, those ones who have been forsaken by government and society and who have sworn to an oath of evil, with a mandate to make life impossible for society. Imprisonment is a stigma anywhere in the world, but here, it is only the poor ex-convict that is stigmatised. Rich ex-convicts get state pardon and they can move on with their lives as if nothing happened.   

Prison reform must be targeted at the jurisprudential question. This is the challenge for the Yar’Adua administration. Anyone who has a contact with the justice system must be treated with dignity and respect. Our prisons must become correctional facilities not hellish holes. The prisons that were built by the colonial authorities which we are still using, with may be one or two exceptions, were informed by both colonial and racist considerations and meant for a smaller population. Sao much has changed in Nigeria since 1960, but the soldiers who seized power for so long, found no cause to change the colonial orientation of our prisons since there was not much ideological difference between the military and the colonial government.

Prison reform cannot be done in isolation, it must be part of comprehensive justice administration reform including the police and the courts system. Training and re-training for police, warders, prosecutors, court staff and all-out war against corruption within the justice administration system would be most essential. The emphasis of the prison system should be correction and rehabilitation. President Umaru Yar’Adua ha snot had the benefit of a night in prison on his resume, but he would perhaps begin to appreciate the seriousness of the dilemma if only he would take a trip round the nation’s prisons. The biggest prison of course is the Nigerian society itself, where man and nature are undergoing excruciating and inhuman punishment. For President Yar’Adua, “seeing”, as they say, “is believing.” Even if some people saw the prisons and experienced what it means to be a Nigerian prisoner adn still did nothing, we hope that President Yar’Adua will feel compelled to make a difference.        

 

Culled from The Guardian Newspapers, Sunday October, 14, 2007

 

 

ROAD SAFETY AND VISION 20-2020: THE TASK BEFORE THE FRSC

One of the distinguishing features of human society is governance by norms, values and rules. Human societies are governed by rules which compel members to act in predictable and expect ways. This is what gives the social organisation some form of predictability because all members behave in an expected pattern. Even where there is deviance, the collective will of the society inflicts sanctions on the erring party in order to compel obedience and promote deterrence.  

It is this form of social predictability that makes the human society unique. That is why one can wake up each morning and open ones door because he is sure that the next man he will see will exchange pleasantries and not hostilities. That is why one goes to the market with money because one is sure that in exchange for the money one will yet goods or services and not the attack of a tiger.

The essence of this simplistic sociological treatise is to underscore the fact that the existence of rules and regulations to which all peoples subscribe is what gives all peoples complex society in which we live the semblance of the everyday order we are accustomed to. This means that the absence of such rules and regulations means anarchy arising from behavioural unpredictability. Because general conduct of members is not regulated by any, generally acceptable behaviour patterns, everyone behaves as they deem fit. The result is anarchy.

I have taken the pains to draw this illustration because I listened to the frustrations of the Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr Osita Chidoka recently. He was speaking to journalists about the penchant for the motoring public to disregard the traffic codes. He wondered how we could avoid accidents on our highways if everybody drive the way they felt. It is therefore not a surprise that he Corps Marshall was part of the ceremony where Bank PHB donated some ambulances to the National Union of Road Transport Workers. For me the import of this ceremony is the acceptance of the inevitability of accidents on our highways. The provision of ambulances is a sure way of ensuring that even if we cannot prevent accidents, we can prepare to take the victims to hospitals or to mortuaries.

This however, is not the best options for Nigeria. But I can understand the frustration of those saddled with the responsibility of ensuring safe motoring on our roads. This frustration arises mainly from two planks in the nature of our roads and the behaviour of road users.  it is hardly controvertible that the road infrastructure in Nigeria is in due straights. That is why the President made the repair of the road networks in Nigeria one of the key points of the 7 Point Agenda. The roads are bad, no doubt. And where the roads are motorable, they re neither marked nor annotated in a way that shows that the subject matter of motoring safety is paid any serious attention in Nigeria. That is why ne cannot but concede that the nature of our roads do contribute to the high rates accidents and the fatalities that follow in their wake.

But by far the most telling cause of road accidents in Nigeria of road accidents in Nigerian is the absence of rules governing driving in the country. I have had cause to observe road users in this country whether in the cities or on the inter city highways and the conclusion is that the rates of accidents are mediated by the prevalence of bad roads. For had the roads been good all through, the level of carnage on our roads would have been mind boggling. And the reason is simple. If there is a code for road users in Nigeria, many drivers do not know it exists or cannot be bothered going by the rules.

Driving in Nigeria today is not governed by any known rules. If you randomly choose 100 drivers and ask them what they know about the road, on any aspect you will be lucky if you get 5 correct responses. People drive according to their fancies. And when there is a collision each party claims he is right. Our observation shows that many Nigerians learn to drive through the uninformed tutelage of close relations and friends.  There are some of course who go through the driving schools, but most of the operators of the few driving schools are completely ignorant of the niceties of road usage.

For instance, in dual carriage way of four lanes both ways, the conventional wisdom is that vehicles moving slow should be on the right lane so that faster moving vehicles could overtake from the left or fast lane. This means that after you have used the left or fast lane overtake the last vehicle, you are duty bound to move over to the right lane to enable other faster cars move without hindrance.  

But our findings show that in Nigeria, this rule does not apply. In many dual carriage ways, slow moving vehicles stay put on the speed lanes forcing other motorists to try to overtake from the right lane. And this no doubt is not only a very dangerous development but it is very widespread. This singular disposition to overtaking from the right lane has led to many fatal accidents. The absence of stringent official sanctions or condemnation f the practice has led to its acceptance as a part of the road culture in Nigeria.

The most guilty party are drivers of heavy duty lorries and articulated vehicles. They bestride the speed lane like slow moving colossus and if these happens to be another slow moving vehicle on the right lane, then you will have congestion stretching for miles on end. Attempts by motorists to gain access to the road ahead leads to all sorts of James bond driving styles that more often than not lead to fatalities.

Motorists in Nigeria do not also care a hoot about certain road signs or even the application of common sense in the process of driving. A fellow will first jump from an intersection into a major highway without caring a hoot if it is safe. Others will never queue up at  road junctions. Even if at the junction there are only two vehicles, none will queue behind the other. Both will stay side by side.

Most of the very serious accidents I have witnessed or heard about are usually work more to the absence.

 

ORAL HEALTH: GATEWAY TO GENERAL HEALTH

By

Dr. Omili, Michael (PMC, Abuja)

Dr. Lawal, Adeyinka M. (Kuje Prison hospital)

Generations ago, most people lose their teeth by middle age. Today, thanks to the benefits of fluoride, healthier lifestyles and professional dental care, more people than ever before are keeping their natural teeth throughout their lifetime. Yet for people who live in areas where a dentist is not available or who cannot afford treatment, access to dental care can be difficult.

Oral health care needs to be a priority. Left untreated it can lead to serious health consequences-tooth loss, infection, damage to bone or nerve. Infection from an abscessed tooth can spread to other parts of the body and, ultimately, may even lead to death. Clearly, oral health is just as important as non-oral health.

The compartmentalization involved in viewing the mouth separately from the rest of the body must cease because oral health affects general health by causing considerable pain and suffering and by changing what people eat, their speech and their quality of life and well-being. Oral health also has an effect on other chronic diseases. Because of the failure to tackle social and material determinants and incorporate oral health into general health promotion, millions suffer intractable toothache and poor quality of life and end up with few teeth.

It is a disgrace that so many Nigerians still lack access to basic oral health care. Kids and adults miss sleep, school and work due to untreated dental disease. They can't eat properly; they can't smile. It doesn't have to be this way. Dentists are willing to take the lead on improving access to dental care. But we can't fix this mess alone.

If you want to measure the depth and strength of health, then measure the degree of resistance to disease.  The mouth is the ideal diagnostic window or health barometer for this purpose. 

At any given time, gingival tissue vascular response to the bacteria in common dental plaque is a reflection of the body’s defensive resistance to chronic bacterial irritation or infection. There is no question in my mind, that the vast majority of health problems are directly related to inadequate oral hygiene (brushing and flossing). 

From a 1920's perspective, organized dentistry was born out of necessity.  It was the result of the need for safe medical intervention in a potentially life threatening disease process that was not clearly understood at that time.  The central focus was on the diagnosis of dental caries (tooth decay) and related infections.  The most predictable treatment was exodontia (tooth extraction).  If you are unable to eliminate the cause of a problem, then you eliminate the things involved in the problem.  The philosophy was based on the fact, that a hook is better than a badly infected hand, and dentures (artificial tooth) are better than a badly infected mouth.  It was true in 1927, and it is still true today. Times have changed.  Dental caries is no longer a major life threatening problem.  The focus has shifted to periodontal disease.  When it comes to information on dental research and technology, the dentists of today have a tremendous advantage over the dentists of my father’s era.  Not only are there far more extensive dental faculty libraries, there is the capability of Medline searches and Internet access to dental faculties everywhere. 

There is a profusion of journal articles, case histories, dissertations, and evidence-based studies, on every aspect of dental practice, from AAC (Actinobacillus Actinomycetems Comitans - type of bacteria) and its role in periodontal disease to ZZZs and the prevention of snoring.

And yet we are still tightly focused on teeth and their supporting structures.  There is a risk to a myopic (near sighted) view that makes it difficult to see the forest for the trees (or rather the patient for their teeth).  Sometimes we tend to forget that the mouth is connected to the rest of the human body, and that there are important diagnostic links between oral health, and general or systemic health.  

Obviously, if you do not have oral health, you are not healthy, but if oral health plays a role in the definition of overall health, then general health also must play a role in the definition of oral health.

 Vitamin deficiency and toxicity syndromes have clinically apparent oral manifestations, as do the immunocompetency (ability to resist infection) problems related to A.I.D.S., diabetes, hepatitis, and allergic or autoimmune response.  Conversely, common oral bacteria have been implicated in geriatric pneumonia, and bi-products of anaerobic (without oxygen) periodontal pathogens (exotoxins) have been implicated in coronary artery disease and bacterial endocarditis.

Periodontal or gum disease is caused by a bacterial infection that attacks gum, ligaments and bone. These infections can eventually enter the blood stream and travel to major organs and begin new infections. Periodontal disease has also been associated with a variety of conditions with systemic implications, such as diabetes and osteoporosis.

  Several studies have shown a link between poor oral health and heart disease. In fact, at least one study concluded that patients with severe gum disease double their risk of a fatal heart attack. Bacteria found in periodontal disease can also lead to blood clots, increasing the risk for heart attacks or stroke.

The association between diabetes and periodontal disease has been well documented. As diabetic patients have a compromised ability to respond to infections, they are at greater risk for periodontal disease.

Periodontal disease has also been linked to preterm and low birth weight babies. Additionally, elevated levels of hormones in expectant mothers may cause the gums to react differently to the bacteria found in Plaque, increasing susceptibility to gum inflammation and disease during pregnancy.

ln 2007, of the 98 Prison staff seen in the dental clinic (Prison medical center), only 11.5% have visited a dentist in the past year. Oral health affects people physically and psychologically and influences how they grow, enjoy life, look, speak, chew, taste food and socialize, as well as their feelings of social well-being. The Department of Medical/Health Services in Prison must raise awareness among the staffs, their families, general public, health care providers about the connection between oral health and general health. There are simple things individuals can do to ensure good oral health including practicing good oral hygiene by brushing their teeth, flossing, and seeing a dentist twice a year.

As the saying goes, AIDS no de show for face but e de show for mouth.

REFERENCES

1.  Petersen PE. The World Oral Health Report 2003: continuous improvement of oral health in the 21st century – the approach of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 2003; 32 Suppl 1:3-24.

2.  Sheiham A, Watt R. The common risk factor approach: a rational basis for promoting oral health. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 2000;28:399-406.

3.  Yee R, Sheiham A. The burden of restorative dental treatment for children in Third World countries. International Dental Journal 2002; 52:7-10.

4.  Locker D. Concepts of oral health, disease and the quality of life. In: Slade GD, editor. Measuring oral health and quality of life. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, Dental Ecology; 1997, pp. 11-23.

5.  Gift HC, Reisine ST, Larach DC. The social impact of dental problems and visits. American Journal of Public Health 1992; 82:1663-8.

6.  Adulyanon S, Vourapukjaru J, Sheiham A. Oral impacts affecting daily performance in a low disease Thai population. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 1996; 24:385-9.

7.  Sheiham A, Steele J. Does the condition of the mouth and teeth affect the ability to eat certain foods, nutrient and dietary intake and nutritional status amongst older people? Public Health Nutrition 2001; 4:797-803.

8.  Azodo CC, Osazuwa-Peters N, Omili M. Halitosis (bad breath): an update. Forum on oral aspect of HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases 2009.

 

EXAM PRACTICES: FRAUDSTERS FREE REIN MARRING QUALITY

Working hand-in-hand with teachers, desperate parents continue to devise ingenious means to help their wards cheat in examinations. EMMANUEL ONYECHE examines the issue and asks: What will they think of next?

An examination where students were being tested electronically – through the use of computers – was going on at a location in Lagos. Suddenly, a male candidate ran out of the examination hall, shouting, ‘Mummy! Mummy! Hold that man, hold him. Everything he gave me was a fake. The questions didn’t even have numbers.’     

The mother and the older brother of the student, who were waiting outside the examination centre, quickly located and held on to a man. Then the mother (directing her fury to the man) shouts, “I am done for. Two hundred and fifty thousand gone just like that? I will collect my money today.”

The above story is not fiction. It was actually witnessed and narrated to journalists in Lagos by Mr Damilola Bamiro, the deputy managing director of the Electronic Testing Company – a computer based examination and assessment testing company – to  underscore the worrisome and growing trend of parents who go all out to assist their children cheat in examinations.

“All this happened in front of a crowd and when the man who was held was searched, it was discovered that he had many fake answers of the supposed questions in the examination, which he was selling to people. Those answers were useless because the computer had picked from a bank of over 1,000 questions and distributed 40 to each candidate without even numbering the questions,” Bamiro says.

The managing director of the company, Mr Tunde Oladipo, says, “None of our (members of) staff has gone into an exam without being offered money. What baffles me is why father and mother will leave their work and both of them will follow a six-foot tall boy to where he will write an examination of less than one hour.

“We are expecting one person at the examination centre and five people turn up and you have a crowd all milling around. Sometimes, we have had to hire 100 dozens of chairs and several canopies to keep them seated and it is this kind of people that exam fraudsters targets.”       

Oladipo says such fraudsters usually impersonate staff of examination bodies and extort huge sums of money from parents, some of who bring as much as N500,000 to the examination centres, which they are ready to dish out to anyone willing to assist their wards pass examinations. And this, he says, is if the parents had not already hired mercenaries and arranged special centres, where teachers are bribed to help the candidates cheat.

Giving reasons for this growing malaise, which no one seems to be in a hurry to tackle, Akin Oyebode, a professor of law and Head of International Law and Jurisprudence at the University of Lagos, Akoka, says, “It is symptomatic of the collapse of values. In my own time, you didn’t need parents assisting you in examinations and admissions.

“Even school certificate results were published in newspapers and when you apply for admission to a university, you just get your letter. If it is direct entry, it by ‘A’ levels or Higher School Certificate. For those of us who went to sixth form, for instance, you just apply and the university will send you the admission letter. You didn’t need to know anybody.

“But there leadership failure. There is a corruption of values and the whole country is on tenterhooks, morally speaking and we now operate on the basis of what people call ‘man know man’. I don’t believe in it but people like me who still want to insist on standards and merits are in the minority. They think we are ‘old school’. That is why you have parents now hiring mercenaries and contractors and providing funds to get exams done for their children.”

Dr Philips Okunola, an associate professor of Educational Planning and Policy, Faculty of Education UNILAG, adds, “In the past, things which we considered as abominable are no longer seen as such. The culture of hard work is no longer there because everybody is trying to cut corners.”

Dr Carol opera, a senior lecturer in Education (French), Faculty of Education, UNILAG, says, “Some of these parents may not even see what they are doing as wrong. Cheating is no longer seen as a taboo. There is overemphasis on materialism so they look at cheating as a way of making it. They tell themselves that after all, people in government cheat and get away it. It is now a vicious circle.          

Okunola says, “Again, there is over dependence on paper qualification. In advanced countries, you can develop your potential without going to the university. The notion that the degree is tantamount to a meal ticket is erroneous, but it has not permeated the entire society and that is why some parents will go to any length to ensure that their children get university education.”

Opera says, “God created giftedness across board. Some are created to excel in vocational and technical fields. Take the mechanics that repair our cars as examples – without them we are in trouble. This has to seminar into the consciousness of Nigerians so that this mad rush for university education will stop.”

Okunola faults the high premium placed on JAMB scores for admission into our universities. “The candidate who wants to read medicine as a course, for example, will need to score 300 out of 400 to get admitted. But what matters is to get university education.

Any course in the university has been designed to make you know how to do things better. For example, I am an educationist to the core and I do not know any medical doctor that has more job satisfaction than me,” he says.

Opera believes that many parents have failed in their duty to bring up children with desperation to make their children pass exams and secure admissions into the universities through foul means is an attempt to cover up this failure.

“Many parents are too busy pursuing wealth. As a result, they pay too little              quality attention to their children. When the parents realize this, they don’t want to acknowledge it. They now begin to look for means to cover up their lapses. They want to get their children into the universities through any means and continue to live with the illusion that they have succeeded as parents. It is fraud,” she says.

A parent, Mrs Olufunke Adetayo, says, “There are parents who do not want their children to be seen as lagging behind the children of their neighbours, colleagues and other family members. Such parents are ready to cut corners to see their children pass exams and gain admissions into what they consider as ‘the right institutions.’”

Another parent, Mr Okorie Igwe, says, “In situations where you have some schools where parents pay as much as N500,000 per term as school fees, some parents would certainly not want their children to repeat classes or examinations in which case they would now have to pay new fees.”

A terrible consequence of all this, according to Opara, is a doomed society. “everyone, from top to bottom, is involved and our impressionable children are watching,” he says. “A vicious circle is created and it will take divine intervention to break it.”   

Oyebode adds, “The parents should know that they are hurting nobody but themselves. Rigging exams is like rigging elections. Merit is sacrificed at the alter of mediocrity. Once the degrees or the certificates that these kids have got cannot be defended, then the society ultimately losses out”.

Opera says, “Our educational system will continue to be filled lazy and mediocre students who have nothing to offer. It could lead to brain drain because certain intellectual challenges which are more than money and which sustain the interests of some lecturers on the job, are no longer there and such lecturers  may want to leave.”

For solutions, Okunola thinks JAMB should be scrapped, giving way to the return of concessional entrance examination, where one can apply to as many tertiary institutions as possible.

He adds, “I think there is also the need for a national rebirth not just rebranding. Once we can have that and prosecute it with all seriousness, it could work.”

Opera says, “Serious awareness has to be created for parents to know that the society is hinged on the family and for people to know the consequences. There should also be adequate sanctions that will be implemented. Such a sanction may include, for example, the banning of anyone caught from attending any University in Nigeria.”

Bamiro thinks computer-based examinations and assessment tests are the ultimate solutions. “The paradigm of examination testing in Nigeria must shift away from pen and paper if we seriously want to solve the problem. Computer-based testing does not require the printing of exam questions, the carrying about of question papers and the burden of marking – all of which is done through the computer.

“Results are also released instantly and they are accurate. Out of every 20,000 or 30,000 examinations, we never call back more than 300 and for those who want to get use to using the computer for exams, we have a practice website where we get about 12,000 hits monthly,” he says.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ESSAY

NIGERIAN PRISONS SERVICE AND THE 7-POINT AGENDA IN VISION 20-2020

 

NPS Vision/Mission:        Protect Society: Reform The Prisoner

 

Introduction

The Nigerian Prisons Service is one of the arms of the Criminal Justice mechanism in Nigeria charged with the following functions: 

 

i.            Take into lawful custody all those certified to be so sent by courts of competent jurisdiction;

ii.          Produce suspects in courts as  and when due;

iii.       Identify the causes of their anti-social disposition;

iv.        Setting in motion mechanisms/programmes for their treatment and training for eventual reintegration into the society as law abiding citizens on discharge;

v.           Administer prisons farms and industries for this purpose and in the process generate revenue for the government; and

 

THE STRUCTURE

The Service has its headquarters in Abuja in addition to offices located in the Capital Cities of 36 States of the Federation.  The FCT Command office is located at Kuje.

The Service runs the following Prisons institutions spread across the length and breadth of the country. 

·        144 Main Prisons;

·        83 Satellite Prisons;

·        3 Borstal Institutions in Kaduna, Abeokuta and Ilorin respectively

·        11 Mechanized Farms Centres

·        11 Poultry/Piggery Projects

·           12 Prison Agric Projects

·           124 Market gardens attached to convict prisons nationwide.

 

Training Institutions:

·           Prisons Staff College, Kaduna;

·           Prisons Training School, Kaduna;

·           Prisons Training College, Kirikiri;

·           Prisons Training School, Enugu; and

·           Prisons Training School, Owerri

 Staff and Inmates Population:

-                     Inmate population           40,601

-                     Awaiting Trials                 28,996

-                     Convicts                   11,605

 

The mandate of the Nigerian Prisons Service Vis-à-vis the Seven Point Agenda

Mandate	Focus	7 Point Agenda
1.  Take into lawful custody all those certified to be so sent by courts of competent jurisdiction;	Crime prevention through deterrence	Promoting internal security
2.  Produce suspects in courts as  and when due;	Access to Justice	Rule of Law
3.  Identify the causes of their anti-social disposition;	Reform of convicts	Crime control and Prevention
4.  Setting in motion mechanisms/programmes for their treatment and training for eventual reintegration into the society as law abiding citizens on discharge	Human Resource Development and Empowerment	Educational Empowerment  Wealth Creation
5.  Administer prisons farms and industries for this purpose and in the process generate revenue for the government; and	Production of food, goods and services	Food security, production of goods and services

 

 

The Mandate of the NPS Captured Within the 7-Point Agenda Framework

 

THE PRISONS AND VISION 20-2020

There are two major areas where the operations of the prisons, through the vehicle of the 7-Point Agenda could impact on the Vision 20-2020.

(1)The First is that given the mandate of the NPS the Service could contribute to the realisation of Vision 20-2020 by operationalising its mandate as follows:-

(i)       Secure Custody: By providing secure custody to those whose conduct is inimical to social economic development. By so doing it provides the necessary climate for the interplay of development forces leading to the actualisation of the Vision 20-2020.

(ii)      By taking remand prisoners to court, the NPS facilitates access to justice to prisoners so that those guilty could be committed and the innocent sent back home. This process also fast-tracks and sustains the rule of law mantra of the present administration.

(iii)     By systematically ascertaining the causes of their antisocial behaviours the NPS is diagnosing the causal elements of crime with intent to prevention and control of crime. This is security.   

(iv)     By setting in motion mechanisms for their treatment and retraining fro eventual reform and reintegration into the society, the NPS is performing many related tasks. It is educating the convicts by

(a) Vocational skills acquisition

(b) Educational development

(c) Empowerment through the Aftercare mechanism sets up the ex-prisoners on his own as a small entrepreneur on discharge.

This is the summit of the contribution of the NPS to National development. Firstly, it serves as an agency that provides the second tier human resource development opportunity to persons who had lost it to crime in the first place. It provides them with the opportunity to become useful members of the productive workforce again. This is done through vocational and formal education in the prison. In both ways the prisoners are prepared for productive living on discharge.

(v)      By using prisons farms and industries to train the prisoners, the NPS not only trains the prisoners on vocations as stated above but more indirectly produces goods and services as well as more food. The goods and services are produced courtesy of the workshops such as furniture making, iron works, carpentry, tailoring, painting, electrical vocations, toilet roll and soap-making. Food on the other hand is produced courtesy of the strategic deployment of the 12 mechanised farms into food production in addition to training the prisoners in farm methods and food production. These interventions tend to address the Food security and wealth creation matrix of the 7-Point Agenda.

CURRENT ASSESSMENT OF PERFORMANCE

These laudable objectives are not being optimally met now because of many factors. Some of these factors are listed below.

(1)Infrastructure: The infrastructural layout of the network of Prison that serve the country are at best in very deplorable conditions. By infrastructure is meant the whole gamut of prison walls hospitals, cells, offices, barracks, etc. There was a total neglect of the prisons up to 3 decades and this led to this decay. There has however been some efforts at ameliorating situation with the construction of and commissioning of some new prisons in Okene, Ondo, Ogun, Kwara and new prisons cellblocks in Kuje, Owerri, etc. Prison hospitals have been built in Kuje, etc. But the overall picture is that of widespread decay and neglect.

(2)ATP Congestion One other factor that has tended to militate against the attainment of these objectives is the increase of ATP congestion. For the avoidance of doubt, the mandate of the NPS is realisable and achievable in so far as the NPS must work, by law, on convicted prisoners. The assessment of the success or otherwise of the implementation of the prisons regimes in the treatment of offenders is done with the convicts and no other. But where the convicts are few and far between: where the convicts constitute only 13 percent of the prison population, then the ability of the Service to deliver on the above mandate becomes very severally limited.

According to this submission, the total inmate population of the Nigerian Prisons System is 40,601 as at February, 2009. Out of this number 28,966 or 72 percent are awaiting trial persons while 11,605 or 28 percent are convicts charged for capital offences mainly have stayed awaiting trial for up to ten years. What this means is that the mandate of the NPS can only apply to the 11,605 convicts 826 of whom are condemned to death.

Since an awaiting trial person is deemed to be innocent until proven guilty, it follows that he cannot be subject to the Prison regime therapy and since the ATPs constitute the bulk of the Prison population, scarce resources will always be expended trying to contain them in secure and humane custody. This state of affairs underscores the need expressed by the Prisons to acquire more escort duty vehicles so that the ATPs can go to courts more regularly.     

(3)Logistics The Need to decongest the ATP cells is underscored by the necessity to acquire more escort duty-vehicles to take ATPs to court as and when due. As at the moment, the average logistical displacement in a prison or two small mini-Black Maria vehicles serving up to 30 judicial divisions. This has led to most of the prisoners going to court very late or not at all. The Nigerian Prisons Service wishes to present ATPs to courts promptly to enable the courts try these cases speedily. And this can be done properly when the logistical constraints militating against service delivery in this wise are removed, by the provision of Escort duty vehicles.

 

(4)Security Due to the pressure exacted on the poor facilities by this burgeoning ATP congestion, and given that these categories of Prisoners have tended to force jailbreaks and riots, it is become necessary to safeguard the Prisons and preserve internal security. These needs include the arms and other instruments of restraints, CCTV and other surveillance equipment, biometric data capturing machines for adequate rerecords, security devices fro gumming cell phone and other security – breaching devices, communication gears to mention these few. Their near total-absence in the Prisons has made the central of the prisons and its environment in the desire to secure the society.

 

(5)There are so many other areas of deficiencies that prevent the effective service delivery from the NPS. These include workshop development

·        Staff Training

·        Medical and Social Welfare programmes

·        Aftercare mechanism

·        Barracks Accommodation

·        Staff Welfare General.

·        Salaries, emoluments, etc 

All these needs are captured in the attached cost profile and they beg for attention so that the mandate of the NPS can be realised. The position of this presentation is that if in line with the 7-point Agenda, these areas of needs are addressed, the NPS will be in a position to push for the realisation of the Vision 20-2020 through the vehicle of the 7-Point Agenda.  

The second area where the operations of the NPS, through the 7-point Agenda could impact the Vision 20-2020 is sustainability through strategic planning. An effective and functioning Prisons system, as presently constituted will help to midwife the Vision 20-2020. But the actualisation of the Vision will need a Prison System that will help to sustain it.

Vision 20-2020 will mean increased population, increased production and distribution in the Industrial sector, the opening up of more rural areas and general demographic mobility which will give rise to increased crime waves and the need to deal with a layer population of criminals.

At the moment, the figure of 40,601 inmates in Nigerian Prisons is suggestive of a flawed criminal justice prosecution mechanism. This is because with a population of 140 million plus persons, the figure of 40,601 is suggestive of a country with a very low crime rate. But we know that Nigeria has one of the highest crime rates in the world. The United States has about 250 million people. 2.7 million are in prisons. Egypt has population of 71 million people and its prisons locks up 62,000 people. South Africa has a population of 47 million people but 157 thousand of them are in prison. Ethiopia has a population of 71 million people but 65,000 of them are in prisons. Algeria and Ghana have 33 and 23 million people respectively but 42,000 and 13,000 of these people are in Prison respectively.

If we take the above sample as a given, it follows that Nigerian Prisons population should be anywhere between 150,000 and 250,000. This is because apart from the population factor and perhaps except for South Africa and the USA, none of these countries have a rate of crime higher than Nigeria.

The pursuit of Vision 20-2020 means that the Criminal Justice Reforms also will be pursued. If Criminal justice reforms are part of the process of attaining the Vision 20-2020, it follows therefore that given the demographic and economic changes that will herald Vision 20-2020, there will be more people available for the prison service to treat and reform. It is to be expected that a long term plan of the development of Prison should be undertaken so that the Service will have and accommodate up to 200,000 people in custody by the year 2020. This means that we need to triple prison capacity to 150,000 by 2020.  

By the same token, the food needs of an increased population will put a lot of pressures on the existing structures. In order t ensure food security, plans must be made to optimise the use of Prison farms not only for the training of prisoners but to put them to good use as the primary food production cells in the country. The plans for the expansion of the Prison farms must take cognisance of the need to locate the farms in all the strategic food belts of the country so that they can adequate be put to good use in providing food to the feed the teeming population of Nigerians.

In addition, the social complexities arising from the attainment of Vision 20-2020 will also lead to more crimes that need specialised attention. Juvenile criminals needing institutionalised treatment will increase. Drugs and other psychiatric prisons will be greater in number. These are the eventualities that go with heightened social and economic transformations that follow such aspirations as Vision 20-2020. The need therefore to plan for these specialised institutions need not be over-emphasised because they still not only lead to a more secure society, they will help tp sustain the emerging new society in much the same as the needs arise.

The summary of this submission that the mandate of the Nigerian Prisons Service address certain matrices of the 7-point Agenda of this Administration. That the condensation of this mandate into the 7-point Agenda is the vehicle for  the achievement of the Vision 20-2020 as far as the contributions of the NPS are concerned. It is therefore our conclusion that the empowerment of the NPS along the lines suggested, details of which will be attached hereafter, are the necessary ingredients for the attainment of Vision 20-2020.              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPORTS

NPS VOLLEYBALL TEAM PARTICIPATES AT THE 2009 MEN AFRICAN CLUB VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, CAIRO EGYPT

By Amoran Olanrewaju

        Sixteen players were invited to Abuja for camp after which 12 players were finally selected for the trip. The players were camped at Millipat Hotel, Abuja and were training at the National Stadium.

        On our arrival to Cairo airport from Lagos, a member of the Egypt organizing committee who was attached to us came and picked us with a Luxurious  bus to the hotel. A technical meeting of all participating teams was held the following day where draws were made and four groups A-D emerged. Nigeria Prisons Service team was drawn in group “B’ with Defense of Ethopia, APR of Rwanda, VC Tonnere of Democratic Republic of Gongo and Zamalek of Egypt. Other groups are: Group “A” which comprises of Al-ahly of Egypt, Liberte of South Africa, FAP of Cameroun and Chlef of Algeria. Group “C” are: Ahly Tripoli of Libya, Interclub of Congo Brazaville, Port of Cameroon and Force Terre of DRC. While Group “D” had GSU of Kenya, Muzinga of Burundi, Sonel of Cameroon, Ahly. B. Ghazi of Libya and Mugher of Ethopia in their group.

        The opening ceremony took place on 23^rd of April and  the opening match was between the host of the competition  (Al-ahly) of Egypt and Liberte of South Africa. The match ended with 3-0 in favour of  Al-ahly of Egypt,

The Nigeria Prisons team started it’s campaign by playing with VC Tonnere of DR Congo and the result favoured Nigeria Prisons team 3-0. In the match Sunday Yunana of NPS team was outstanding and was awarded the best scorer of the match. The second match was played with the defending champion, Zamalek of Egypt and Prisons team lost 0-3 aggregate.  The Prisons team continued it’s fighting spirit on 26^th of April by playing APR of Rwanda but unfortunately the match ended 2-3 against Prisons team after struggling 2-2 tied brackets.

        In the other groups, during the same period, Chlef of Algeria lost to FAP of Cameroon 2-3 in group “A”, PAD of Cameroon also lost to Ahly Tripoli of Libya 1-3 in group “C” while Mugher of Etopia lost to Sonel of Cameroon 1-3.

The Prisons team finished it’s group match by beating the Defense of Ethopia by 3-2 victory but unfortunately the team could not qualify for the quarter final after placing third in the group. For the second time again, Sunday Yunana was awarded the best scorer of the match.

        On 27^th, April 2009, Ahly Tripoli of Libya, Sonel and Port Douala of Cameroon completed the quarter final slot and joined the already qualified teams GSU of Kenya, Al-Ahly and zamalek of Egypt and FAP of Cameroon and APR of Rwanda.

The organizer (host) Al-Ahly club and the defending champion Zamalek of Egypt as well as FAP of Cameroon and Ahly Tripoli of Libya secured their semi final  tickets of the 2009 men’s African Club Championship following their victories over Sonel, Port Duoala of Cameroon, GSU of  Kenya and APR of Rwanda respectively in the quarter final matches on 29^th April.

        On Thursday, 30^th of April, 2009, the two semi final were decided.  Al-Ahly  of Egypt qualified to the final following it’s victory over Ahly-Tripoli of Libya 3-0,while Zamalek defeated  FAP of Cameroon 3-0.

         However, the remaining team who did not qualify to play the quarter final slugged it out for ranking or placement of which NPS finally placed thirteenth out of twenty teams.

The final of the competition witnessed the defending champion Zamalek of Egypt and last edition runners up who is also the host of this year competition, Al-Ahly of Egypt playing on 1^st of May , 2009 at Al-Ahly club stadium in Egypt. The final started 8.00 pm and lasted for almost 2 hours. It was a tough match that ended 3-2 in favour of the defending champion, Zamalek. While in the losers final (Third place) FAP of Cameroon was defeated by Ahly-Tripoli of Libya 2-3 aggregate. Zamalek, the defending champion carried the day.                                                                          

DR LABO                          HEAD OF THE DELEGATION

AMORAN OLANREWAJU   IN CHARGE SPORTS

ABIOYE ADESINA             SECRETARY GENERAL (SPORTS)

NITTE ADAMU                  COACH

SUNDA MUSA                   CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM

YUNANA SUNDAY             ASSISTANT CAPTAIN 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POEMS

ELEGY FOR DCP, NDUBISI NWAKUCHE

By Ikhidero Lucky, IP

 

Curfew was tolling knell of the parting day,

When it whispered in our ears,

The demise of a real gem,

DCP, Ndubisi Nwakuche himself.

The tidings fell line a bee-box,

Stung all – and – sundry,

Induced shock, melancholy,

And tears of blood in Esan land,

Where his beret commanded kot tow before Onitsha

DCP, Ndubisi Nwakuche,

A pen-master,

Gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favoured, and imperially fat.

Whenever he went down town,

People on the pavement looked at him.

He was always quietly arrayed

And human when he talked,

But still he fluttered pulses

When he said, “Good Morning”,

And he glittered when he walked

DCP, Ndubisi Nwakuche,

A mild name like cinnamon,

Fragrance in which the lemon grove slept

Prince of Oguta

We missed you, Oga

He was a titan partner in building this nation.

On his head a basin of shining gold,

In his hand a bright lamp,

In his eyes the sun danced,

In his fire a roasting yam,

But today death denied them to see morrow

In this dark world and wide

DCP Ndubisi Nwakuche is no more,

He rests in sepulchre in the Savannah,

Today, who can stick the vine of his family?

Who can spread immanent suffuse like him?

I do not know, God

Well, his constructive echo of songs

To staff, inmates and friends,

Shall not die,

Even in this football world

Where good and bad people

Play and ply, wine and dine together

Unwary of each other’s pranks

Is a big blow and death.

Beloved DCP, Ndubisi Nwakuche

Has gone so soon.

In sackcloth, this ashes,

The relic of his work remains

Because I trust in the end

The sun will gently raise her head,

And together with the lamb

We shall see again

For death shall kill no Prison Officer

Since death shall be killed.