FG Bans The Use Of Cell Phones In Prisons

 

 

The Federal Government has barred the use of phones and indecent dressing in Nigerian prisons. The directive announced by the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, affects both prisoners and officials; it said henceforth, no inmate or official would be allowed access to telephones.

 

While condemning the officials of Nigerian prisons for what he described as ‘below average’ performance, the minister ordered with immediate affect, that no official or inmate be allowed access to their telephones, while at the various prisons across the country.

 

Moro said  “I have visited some prisons in other countries as the Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Nobody, no matter highly placed you are, you don’t come to prison with YOUR phones, not even the minister of Interior as the supervising minister over the prisons. So, why are you an exception?”

 

He said, “Henceforth, no matter who you are including myself, that nobody goes into prison with telephones. And so, as you are going from here, create a meeting platform where all the officers that work in the prisons as they walk into prisons, they submit their phones and collect them when they close.”

 

He also directed the prison authorities to recover all handsets from inmates within 30 days.“Secondly, it means that you have one month to recover all the phones in the custody of inmates across the prison formations. Within one month, all prison formation must recover all telephones from inmates.”

 

Moro who also spoke on the recent attack on Kotonkarfi prison in Kogi State, expressed surprise at the failure of the prisons intelligence unit and the armed squad, which according to him, has resulted in two attacks within two years.

 

He said, “A situation whereby it is established that a prison officer connived with external forces to take a sizeable number of AK47 into the prison and the only sanctions you can give to such an officer is to transfer him?, Acting CG, I want you to investigate that matter and report back to me within two weeks."