IPOB Members On Trial Overstretching Prison Facilities —NPS

UMUAHIA —THE authorities of
Nigeria Prisons Services, NPS,
have said the large number of the
Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB,
members clamped in prisons in its
Zone E area of operation has
further stretched the already
challenging logistics in the
prisons.
IPOB cartoon
Over 100 IPOB members are
currently remanded in various
prisons in the zone from where
they go to court to face trial
following the clash with soldiers
who invaded the home of their
leader, Nnamdi Kanu, last month.
According to Assistant Comptroller
General in charge of Zone E,
comprising of Abia, Akwa Ibom,
Cross River, Bayelsa, Imo and
Rivers, with headquarters in
Owerri, Mr. Alloy Uchenwa,
members of IPOB being remanded
in the prisons have further
stretched the inadequate facilities
in the prisons.
Uchenwa, who spoke to
journalists, yesterday, in Umuahia,
after meeting with the officers of
the Abia State Command, said: “It
was a miracle yesterday how we
were able to convey 100 IPOB
members to court.”
Uchenwa, who explained that he
was in Abia State as part of his
routine inspection of facilities in
commands under his zone,
identified inadequate logistics as
one of the major challenges of the
prisons and appealed to
individuals, organisations and
governments to come to the
assistance of the zone.
The Assistant Comptroller-General
also identified prison congestion
as another challenge confronting
the service, saying a situation
where “more than 90 per cent of
inmates are awaiting trial was
worrisome.”
He called for the building of more
prison yards to ease the challenge
of overcrowding, adding that a
situation where cells for 500 are
being occupied by 1,000 inmates
was not conducive.
Uchenwa said he had raised the
issue of prison congestion with
Abia State Attorney-General and
Commissioner for Justice, Chief
Umeh Kalu (SAN), who he said
promised to do something.
He commended the leadership of
Abia prison command for the
reforms being carried out,
especially effort to enroll inmates
in classes, which will enable them
to write West African School
Certificate Examinations, WASCE,
while some are taking courses in
National Open University of
Nigeria, NOUN.