By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
The Minister of Interior Mr Rauf Aregbesola said Thursday that out of the 4,369 inmates that have escaped from correctional centres due to attacks on the facilities, only 984 have been recaptured.
Speaking at a briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the minister said 3,906 inmates are still on the run.
The minister said it will be difficult for the inmates that have escaped to run away from the long arm of the law, stressing that the biometrics of all inmates in the country have been captured.
“How long can they continue to run from the state? The state is a patient bird. You can run but you can never hide. We have their biometrics. Whenever and wherever they appear to transact any business, their cover will be blown.
“I will like to inform Nigerians that we have captured the biometric information of all inmates in the facilities of NCoS working in partnership with the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
“Therefore, we have the capacity and are tracking all escapees from our facilities. In addition, we are working with and have shared the details of escapees with INTERPOL to check the risks of cross border movements,” he said.
On reformation and rehabilitation of the inmates, the minister said there are 465 inmates running different degree programmes at the National Open University of Nigeria.“There are various ongoing reformation and education programmes for inmates
