Incarceration of Minors: FG orders audit of Borstal Homes

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: The Federal Government has ordered the immediate audit of Borstal Homes of the Nigerian Correctional Service NCoS with a view to ascertaining their present statuses.

The development came as the NCoS blamed the incarceration of minors in adult custodial facilities on state governments who have the constitutional responsibility of building Juvenile Remand Homes.

While the NCoS build Borstal institutions for minors, states are legally saddled with building reformatory or juvenile homes in their areas of responsibility.

Speaking at the third public hearing of the Independent Investigative Panel on the alleged corruption, abuse of power, torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment against the Nigerian Correctional Service, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Dr Magdalene Ajani who also chairs the panel, ordered the relocation of inmates at the Abeokuta prisons within four weeks because of the poor sanitary conditions there.

She also directed the service to send to the ministry the status of all the borstal homes within two weeks, as well as define the status of the Ilorin booster centre.

“I would like to state emphatically that setting up this investigative panel is not merely an administrative exercise. It is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and justice.

“As the Ministry of Interior and as a nation, we recognise that the credibility of our correctional system is central to the rule of law, the security sector, and indeed to public confidence in governance,” she noted.

Head of Welfare Department of the service, Timothy Dabit, said the presence of underage detainees in adult custodial facilities was as a result of remand homes.

He said; “Sometimes, we receive a child along with a warrant, and based on that document, we are expected to admit the individual.

“In most cases, the warrant contains information about the child, but when the child is brought to an adult correctional centre, we often have to question the police about why such a child is being sent there. It becomes a matter of contention, and we rely on the police to justify the decision.

“We have only three Borstal Homes that are functional – one in Kaduna, one in Ilorin, and one in Abeokuta.

“The establishment of remand homes is, at the core view, the constitutional duty of the state governors, even before now.

“In the past, virtually all the state governors had remand homes. Unfortunately, as we speak, most of the states’ remand homes are not functioning”.

Secretary of the Panel, Dr Uju Agomoh said part of its mandate is to ascertain the veracity of the claim that an inmate in the Kuje post-torture centre was intimidated, threatened and defrauded by the officer in charge.

It will aslo examine violations of laid-down rules and regulations governing the conduct of correctional officers and the treatment of inmates including cross dresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky.

Other mandates of the panel include identifying hindrances to the effective implementation of the Legislative and Correctional Services Act 2019, particularly regarding the actualisation of the objectives under Section 2 Sub 1 A, B and C.

“Ensuring compliance with international human rights standards and good correctional practices, providing an enabling platform for the implementation of non-custodian measures, enhancing the focus on corrections and promoting the reformation, rehabilitation and integration of offenders,” she said

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