Treat Inmate with respect -Minister of Interior

At the opening of the Independent Investigative panel on the Alleged corruption, Abuse of power, torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment Against the Nigerian correctional service, the Honourable Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made public the Federal Executive Council, approval of Paramilitary Academy, a University saddled with the responsibility for the training of Nigerian correctional service officers for effective, efficient aimed at transforming the system while purging it out of corruption, and other negative vices as being perceived by the public, thereby gaining back the public trust and confidence under the Renewed hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for all.

According to the Minister, no Govt will ever be judged by how the Govt treats the strongest but by how the weakest are handled; that’s the key; it is the way you handle the weakest in the society that determines the efficiency of the government.

This is the government of renewed hope, like I always say, it is not a government of renewed hopelessness. And you can’t renew a system that is not working, when you renew a system that’s not working, it will be out of madness for you to expect a miracle.

For us, we believe this is an opportunity to retool for us not just to retool but to go on a voyage of rediscovery of our ethos and the fundamentals that make us as humans as Nigerians. What makes me a Nigerian? What is it that makes you a Nigerian? What is it that makes us Nigerian? It is a sense of responsibility, responsiveness, empathy, and goodwill that we share in our society.

Remove empathy from us, then we will lose what makes us what we are supposed to be; according to the Honourable Minister, for me, the weakest in society, whether you like it or not, are the people whose freedom has been taken away from them.

What makes you adventurous and what makes you ambitious, to a large extent, depends on the level of freedom that you have.

You can’t go on a voyage within a limited space; you go on an endless voyage when there is freedom for you to maneuver”, the Minister of Interior stressed.

For me, the correctional center is very key, not just for the criminal justice system, but for the real intent and the foundation of who we are as a people, who we are as a society, and what we stand for as a country.

The Minister disagrees with Doctor Oju that everybody is happy with him; no, those who are benefiting from the system can never be happy, and it is our responsibility to put them on the path of perpetual unhappiness; that’s my responsibility as minister of interior.

Governance is not a popularity contest, governance is not just Doing what people want, and Governance is not about taking people to where they want to go, governance and leadership are all about taking them where they ought to be and that’s where the power of vision comes in, a vision without a mission is a disaster waiting to happen.

For us, the Minister maintained as a government under the able leadership of Mr president, we have decided not to toe the path of business as usual, but to make it business unusual.

For me, the era when a man goes into our correction center and all that happens is incarceration and condemnation should be gone.

This is 2025, this is not 1825, we must treat people with respect regardless of who they are.

That a man is in a correctional center does not make him less of a human, and a lot of this reform.

The core responsibility of a correctional officer is to be an agent of rehabilitation, restoration, reformation, and correction.

The Minister charged the committee with the huge responsibility of looking inward and curing ourselves of the disease, or else it becomes contagious.

Our correctional officer needs psychological evaluation because a man who will handle a man who is already feeling deprived should be psychologically sound

There are people whose wives did not give breakfast; they will use it to attack an inmate.

The Minister, who further stressed the truth of the statement, said that if they sleep and they don’t have sound sleep, the next person is the helpless person whom the system and the institution are supposed to protect, becomes the target.

When the vulnerable, when the subject of protection becomes a target then there is a problem.

The first thing Mr. President does is your welfare because there is a lot to do.

When we came on board, we inherited years of promotion backlog. As it is today, we have released a circular for 2025 promotion exams, starting in March.

Within 18 months of this government, Paramilitary, we have done over 52,000 promotions. This particular government brought your peculiar allowance, take-home, and other allowances that you started earlier, not an audio promise

This particular administration has invested more; two weeks ago, the federal executive council approved the National Paramilitary Academy, a university where correctional officers will be trained, because to me, there is the failure of knowledge, and it is criminal and wickedness for you to demand a man what he doesn’t have. If you demand from an officer who doesn’t have the technical know-how, then if he does something improper, ern you are being wicked.

In terms of capacity building we are doing more, the Honourable Minister said.

You can transfer knowledge to the inmate and treat the inmate with respect. That the man loses his freedom by virtue of being an inmate, doesn’t mean he should lose his dignity as a human being.

You can’t clap with one hand, the Minister quotes Mko’s views as he charged the Investigative Chairperson to work on the correctional officers to be tolerance: You can’t clap with hand as Mko will always say, for there to be corruption, for there to be bribery, one must offer, one must collect, while we are talking about people that are giving, let’s also talk about the people that are collecting” he stated.

The key to our prison decongestion is to treat the issue of awaiting trials; he looks at a scenario where 65% are awaiting trials.

He charges the committee to look at innovative strategies on how to decongest the correction centers nationwide.

The Minister tasked the committee that he’s not just interested in knowing the problem, he maintains that he needs solutions, and not just solutions but timeline solutions, according to the Minister, we can’t fail Nigeria, and we can’t fail Mr president, because there is nothing we have ever requested from him he has never done, for he believes on me and us, and for a president who has given us his all, it will be out of wickedness if we didn’t give him our all, has never disappoint us, and should not disappoint him, just as he declared the independent investigative panel open.

Dr. Magdalene Ajani, Chairperson of, the Independent investigative panel on alleged corruption and other violations against the Nigerian correctional service, in her earlier welcome address speech, expressed her sincere appreciation on behalf of the panel to Honourable Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, for his commitment to justice, transparency, and reform within Nigerian correctional services.

Mrs. Magdalene, who was deeply grateful for the Honourable Minister’s leadership and for gracing this occasion with his presence, established while the panel was constituted; according to her, this panel was established in response to growing concerns about alleged corruption, human rights violations, and systemic irregularities within the Nigerian correctional service.

She maintains that the committee’s mandate is clear: to conduct an independent, fair, and thorough inquiry into all the allegations and to make recommendations that will ensure accountability, uphold human dignity, and strengthen the correctional system in Nigeria.

The first public hearing, according to her, revealed serious concerns regarding the treatment of persons in custody, mismanagement of correctional facilities, and breaches of legal and ethical standards.

Accordingly, as we commence this second public hearing, she reaffirmed the committee’s commitment to ensure that the voices of victims, affected families and concerned stakeholders are heard and that justice is served.

Mrs. Magdalene expressed gratitude for the support of key partners, including the National Human Rights Commission, international organizations such as Unicef and international IDEA, civil society groups, and all individuals dedicated to the cause of justice and correctional reform.

Her words: Your presence here today underscores the collective resolve to uphold the rule of law, and protect fundamental human rights within our correctional institutions”, she states.

She further stressed: “Honourable Minister, esteemed guest, as we proceed with this hearing, I urge all stakeholders to approach this process with openness, courage, and a shared commitment to the truth, the findings and recommendations from this inquiry will serve as a foundation for meaningful reform, ensuring that our correctional institutions function with integrity, professionalism, and respect for human dignity”, the statement read out.