President Bola Tinubu has approved the recruitment of 5,000 personnel for the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), the Acting Comptroller General of the Service, Sylvester Nwakuche Ndidi, has said.
Ndidi made this known during a presentation to the House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions, chaired by Hon. Chinedu Ogar.
He said that the approval was granted in August 2024, but was delayed due to funding constraints.
During the hearing, the committee members highlighted the urgency of addressing overcrowding in correctional facilities, and absolute transparency in the recruitment process.
“Some of us have been inquiring for months whether this recruitment is happening behind closed doors. We will not accept such an outcome. This process should be transparent and timely,” one of the committee members, Victor Ogene said.
The Syndicate reports that the NCS’s budget for 2025 is N183.6 billion, out of which N127 billion is for personnel cost, N45.8 billion for overhead, and N13.4 billion for capital expenditure.
A total of N38 billion has been earmarked for the feeding of 91,100 inmates, at a daily cost of N1,125 per inmate.
The acting Comptroller General called for additional N70.4 billion to modernize custodial facilities, enhance security, and digitize inmates’ management.
“To effectively run the service, we need advance technology, including CCTV surveillance, biometric scanners, body cameras for staff, and state-of-the-art security systems across all correctional centers,” Ndidi told the lawmakers.
