Abia Govt To Build New Correctional Center

Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, says his intention in building new facilities for the Correctional Centres in Abia State is to reduce congestion in the facilities.

Governor Otti stated this on Friday, November 21st in his office, when the new Zonal Coordinator of the Nigerian Correctional Services, Owerri, Zone E and Assistant Controller General of Corrections , Dr Ngozi Amanze, paid him a familiarisation visit.

Governor Otti while receiving the delegation stated that good living conditions, effective rehabilitation programmes and improved security architecture are top priority projects of his administration for the 3 Correctional Services located in Abia state.

The Governor noted that the State is already fencing the Correctional Centres in Umuahia, Aba and Arochukwu to prevent encroachment and unauthorised movement, following a complaint by the facility’s management and expressed concern over the high inmate population of about 1,935 and stressed the need for decongestion without compromising justice.

Governor Otti recalled that his administration had earlier in December 2023 and 2024 made efforts to identify inmates deserving of State pardon ,efforts he said yielded no results as a lot of the inmates were serving jail terms involving murder and other serious offences.

“Our target should be to bring the number down, not up. We also don’t want to let people go when they should not be let go”, he said.

“This government earlier made efforts to identify inmates deserving of State pardon in 2023 and 2024, efforts which yielded no results because “there were a lot of people there for murder and for serious offences” Governor Otti noted.

He urged the Service to re-examine the list, noting that his administration remains open to lawful measures that can reduce congestion in the Correctional centers.

The state chief executive who used the forum to assure the delegation that Medical Facilities within the centres would be strengthened, also directed the Commissioner for Health to assess needs and deploy Primary Healthcare Services where necessary, assuring that he would engage the Imo State Government for joint action to address some logistics challenges facing the facilities in the two states.

Earlier in her speech, the Assistant Controller General of Nigerian Correctional Services and coordinator of Zone E, Dr Ngozi Amanze while thanking Governor Otti for the infrastructural facelift particularly the perimeter fencing and construction of a storey building with 6-cells at the Aba Correctional center as well as the provision of solar powered lights and boreholes at the Umuahia and Arochukwu Correctional centres, noted that the strategic interventions have fortified the facilities as well as strengthened security in the facilities.

“The construction of a fortified perimeter wall and the construction of a new storey building with six cells at the Aba Correctional Centre, and the installation of solar lights, provision of solar powered water at the Umuahia Correctional center among others are some of the interventions by Governor Otti that has boosted security and staff confidence”.

She described the Governor’s intervention in the area of improved water supply as commendable as the intervention will go a long in preventing unrest among the inmates,
noting that the 3 centers in the state including Aba, Umuahia and Arochukwu have about 1,935 inmates with Imo state Housing about 1,607 inmates .

Dr Amanze equally appealed for additional assistance in the area of education and skills acquisition for the inmates as about 85 percent of inmates in Aba, Umuahia and Arochukwu centers are young Abians whose education were disrupted due to crime.