The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has warned that officers who neglect their duties will face sanctions, after a wave of jailbreaks that have exposed deep security lapses across the country’s prisons.
Controller-General Sylvester Nwakuche said negligence among senior staff had played a central role in the repeated breaches, insisting that such lapses would no longer be tolerated.
Figures compiled from media reports and official data show that at least 6,700 inmates have escaped from 13 facilities between 2019 and 2025. More than 4,600 remain at large, many of them awaiting trial for offences including terrorism and armed robbery. Around 2,000 have been recaptured.
Speaking in Abuja at the decoration of 30 newly promoted Assistant Controllers-General of Corrections, Nwakuche accused zonal coordinators, state controllers, and custodial centre officers of abandoning their responsibilities.
“It is obvious that our Zonal Coordinators, State Controllers, and Officers-in-Charge of Custodial Centres have abdicated their duties. This is unacceptable and will no longer be tolerated. Any further abdication of responsibilities will surely attract the big stick,” he said.
He reminded the newly promoted officers that their elevation was “not merely ceremonial” but a call to provide disciplined, proactive leadership at a time when public confidence in the correctional system was fragile.
Nwakuche reiterated the service’s commitment to the NCoS Act 2019, which seeks to shift the focus from punitive incarceration to rehabilitation and reintegration. He also thanked President Bola Tinubu and Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo for their backing of reforms to improve prison conditions for both staff and inmates.
The NCoS chief said the promotions marked recognition of years of diligence and sacrifice but also underlined the weight of responsibility facing senior officers in safeguarding Nigeria’s correctional facilities.
