Senate Will Receive Prisons Reform Bill Soon – Uba

• Senate Will Receive Prisons Reform Bill Soon – Uba

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, Sen. Andy Uba has promised to submit the bill for an Act to reform the Nigerian Prisons Service.

Uba made the disclosure when he led the delegation of the Senate’s committee on oversight visit to the Nigerian Prisons Service.

Uba who acknowledged that Nigerian prison system was in dire need of reforms, noted with displeasure that prison facilities in Nigeria were too congested.

In view of this, he said that there was need to build more prisons especially outside the city centres adding that “Prisons should be made to do more than confinement and rehabilitation.

“Prisoners should also be taken through useful skills acquisition programs such as tailoring, shoemaking, carpentry, computer engineering among others.

“It is for this reasons that the committee is working hard to finalise and soon submit to plenary, the bill for an Act to reform the prison service in Nigeria,” he said.

The committee proceeded to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), wher Sen. Uba pledged to support the corps to get adequate funding for optimal performance.

The committee which went to review the budget performance of the Corps included, Danjuma Leah, Mao Ohuabunwa, Obinna Ogba, Andrew Uchendu, Foster Ogola, Shaibu Lau, Clifford Ordia and Kurfi Umaru.

Commandant-General of the NSCDC, Abdullahi Muhammadu who received the senate’s delegation said that the budgetary allocation to the poor had remained poor.

He also said that the core was still grossly under-staffed due the paucity of funds to recruit adequate staff for optimal performance.

In response, Chairman of the Senate’s Interior Committee, Sen. Uba assured the Commandant-General and his team that some of the concerns raised will be looked into.

He also commended the NSCDC for the successes achieved so far in the areas of protecting government assets despite financial challenges and poor manpower.

“We are here today as part of our oversight as members of the Senate Committee on Interior to get updates from you and your team with regards the implementation of the 2017/18 budgetary allocation to the corps.

“I want to encourage you to always ensure that the committee is carried along at all times not only when it comes to budgetary issues.

“We are also pleased by the level of successes made by the corps as it relates to the protection of national assets as well as internal security.

“Let me assure that we are going to do everything humanly possible to ensure that these challenges are solved,” he said.