The Nigerian Army has blamed the July 5, 2022, Kuje prison break on the absence of close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the facility.

Major Peter Ogbuinya, the assistant director of Commercial Law at the Directorate of Nigerian Army Legal Services, stated this at the investigative hearing by the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Reformatory Institutions, Justice, Police Affairs, Interior, and Human Rights in Abuja on Wednesday.

Mr Ogbuinya said, “We observed the facility has low fence and has no CCTV cameras installed in the place before the incident.”

Mr Ogbuinya said the army only played a complementary role in providing prison security.

‘’The day the incident occurred, we had a rotation of troops and I would not want to comment on the question regarding the possibility of having an insider.

“Prior to that incident, the Nigerian Army wrote series of letters to the comptroller general of the correctional service concerning our observations and things that would enhance security around the facility.

“We are still working to know if there are any soldiers who failed to do what they were meant to do within the military hierarchy,” he said.

Ayoola Daniel, a representative of the attorney general of the federation, said the justice ministry was supporting decongesting correctional centres in the country.

She said the prison service had been moved from the exclusive to the concurrent list, and state governments were expected to take on the responsibility of decongesting the centres.

Also speaking, Philip Ayuba, the assistant commandant general of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), urged the committee to investigate the possibility of engaging National Youth Service Corps members to provide legal services to prisoners.

“We still have so many young men in prison; we are requesting that NYSC lawyers be sent to prison to look at some of the minor cases so that we can decongest the prison,’’ he said.

(NAN)