I Won’t Tolerate Sabotage In Custodial Facilities — Tunji-Ojo  

The Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has said there will be no tolerance for sabotage by officers and men of the Nigeria Correctional Service ( NCoS); stationed at the various facilities in the country which often pave the way for incessant jailbreaks.

He issued the warning on Wednesday, when he paid a working visit to the National Headquarters of the Nigeria Correctional Service in Abuja.

The minister who also declared zero tolerance for attacks on Custodial Centres across the country, warned that anyone who dares to attack the facilities, going forward, should not live to regret it.

He said, “We are with you absolutely to make our Custodial Centres inviolable. Attacks on centres is no longer a happenstance. There is a pattern now and we can no longer give any excuse to allow these attacks to succeed.”

While lamenting that there have been series of jail breaks in custodial centres across the country in the last few years, he promised to make NCoS a correctional institution rather than a condemnation service.

“A custodial centre is a fortress and a sacred facility that nobody should even have the temerity to attack, not to talk of succeed at attacking. So the current security challenges are just being used as a cover for sabotage. A pattern is fast emerging and we must tackle it as such.”

Tunji-Ojo was at the Ministry to implement the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

Earlier, at the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the minister raised concerns about the lack of correct data of expatriates in the country.

He also promised to look into several agreements the NIS had with service providers, adding that those agreements were holding the Service back in actualising its mandates.

“Any agreement (entered into by NIS) that is holding us back as a nation must go,” the minister said.

Tunji-Ojo stressed the need to reduce the waiting period to get an international passport, lamenting that Nigerians spend months to get the document.

He said, “My daughter waited for six months to get her passport booklet. If I could face this as chairman, House committee on NDDC, tell me what an average Nigerian will face. It’s like we are waiting for a passport to heaven.”