Allegations are feeding fat in the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) even amid denials of corruption, favouritism, certificate forgery, and extortion of inmates in a plethora of sleaze that denies everyone justice.
Thrown into the mix are officers feeling bruised for being bypassed for promotion.
Internal Affairs Minister, Abba Moro (l) and Acting NPS Controller General, Aminu Suleh, (r).
There is also open talk of low morale and scheming over who becomes the next controller general. Each interest group seeks to plant its own man at the helm, with an eye on pay back – in cash or kind.
Top heavy, demoralised
Investigation showed that the NPS is top heavy as a result of promotion malpractice. It currently has more than 170 controllers, the highest in its history.
It was learnt that since the last public service reform in 2006, large scale forgery of certificates has been rampant, leaving honest officers behind in promotion exercises.
Inside sources said several demoralised officers grumble that they now serve under those who were previously their juniors. Officers mostly affected are those whose positions allegedly do not provide cash to oil the wheel of promotion.
‘ECOMOG’ mafia
Corrupt practices are said to be prevalent because many career officers have long since retired, paving the way for a set of officers called ‘Transferees or ECOMOG’ who allegedly bend the rules for personal gain.
The game reportedly came to the fore during the promotion exercise late last year when the ‘ECOMOG officers’ allegedly smuggled in cronies to replace those who were supposed to be interviewed.
Falsification of age is also said to be complicit in the top heavy organogram.
A prison officer told TheNiche that “there are more than 170 controllers. These are products of years of importation and imposition of persons from outside the service who have changed their records so much that while their juniors were born in the 50s, these senior and older men claimed to have been born in the 60s.
“These ECOMOG officers have so changed their dates of birth that it looks like they got their primary school certificates at age six. The best that anyone can do for the prisons is to do an audit of the top level and find out those who through forgeries and other fraudulent activities found themselves there.”
Holders of Higher National Diploma (HND) are particularly unhappy because of stagnation.
One said she was employed as an inspector in 2009 but has not been promoted, whereas first degree holders who came in as assistant superintendents have been promoted since 2013.
Petition triggers investigation
In the Cross River State command, officers who could not bear the injustice petitioned Interior Minister, Abba Moro, who sent investigators to the state. The outcome of the investigation has not been made public.
“The leadership of the prisons stands accused of abandoning the public service rules on promotion in order to ensure that their wives and relations are promoted over and above hard working officers,” one source lamented.
It was said that Prison Service has been investigated before by anti-corruption agencies, but this could not be verified at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as calls and text messages to its spokesman, Wilson Uwaujeren, were not returned as at press time.
Alleged grand corruption in Ikoyi prison
Another source said the corruption in the Ikoyi prison in Lagos is monumental.
His words: “If you look at Ikoyi prison, you will see the effects of this large scale corruption. Prisoners are levied to fuel the vehicles taking them to court. Officers say escort money is so small and is never released in time that if you must take prisoners to court you must devise the means.
“This is the same situation in medium prisons and indeed all other prisons.
“Do we then wonder why prison breaks have been rampant? These ECOMOG officers have killed the prison service. They have nothing to offer except corner money.
“They have destroyed the morale of officers and soon the system will burst open. But the Prison Service is too strategic for national security and should not be left in the hands of dubious men.”
NPS denies corruption allegations
But NPS Public Relations Officer, Ope Fatinikun, a Deputy Controller, said it is not true that officers are enmeshed in corruption and forge age and certificates to get promotion.
He explained: “The Prison Service Commission (PSC) determines those to be promoted to each rank. If for example the Prisons Service proposes to promote one million people, the Service Commission could say there is no money to pay all of them, ‘So, you can only promote 10.’ That is one example.
“Before one is promoted in the Nigerian Prisons Service, there are certain rules that have to be followed. For instance, the position of controller that you are talking about, that person must have stayed in the position of deputy controller for more than four years.
“Two, he must have attended what we call Command Course. Three, he must have sat for board exams. When he now sits for the exam, he must pass before he is promoted to controller. That is why I am saying it is not enough for you to make allegations.”
NPS speaks on age falsification
When asked whether age falsification could be responsible for the top heavy structure of the prions, Fatinikun said: “It is not possible. Let me give you my own example. I am a Deputy Controller of Prisons. I have spent 25 years in the service.
“Is it possible for me to reduce my age? Or is it possible for me to reduce the number of years I have spent in the service? I have spent 25 years in the service. Can I go back to say no I only spent nine years?
“We don’t even have enough (officers). We don’t promote ourselves. It is the board that will ask us to bring the number of people to be promoted.
“If it is only the Prisons Service that makes the promotion, you will say it is corruption. But the federal government that pays the salaries of those people regulates the numbers to be promoted.”
Also denies prisoners’ levy
Fatinikun also denied that awaiting trial inmates in Ikoyi prison are levied to buy fuel for the vehicles that take them to court.
“It is very easy to make an allegation. Can somebody come out and prove it? The Prisons Service provides money for fueling.
“We have over 200 courts in Lagos alone. We have five prisons in Lagos. We have one in Badagry. We have three in Kirikiri – that is, medium, maximum and female prisons; and then Ikoyi prison.
“These people go to court and we provide fuel money. Just bring out an inmate who says I paid money, let him prove it.”
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