The residents of the South-South have demanded remand homes in Cross River and Akwa Ibom and decried the deplorable condition of the Rivers facility.

The residents made the remark during a survey on the condition of remand homes.

They also condemned detaining children who were in conflict with the law in the same facility as adults in the correctional centres and called for a separate home for them.

Speaking in Calabar, Cross River, Kebe Ikpi, coordinator of the Child Protection Network in the state, explained that the facility, constructed by the Niger Delta Development Commission in Calabar, was occupied by the police.

He stated that the NDDC had handed over the remand home structure to the Ministry of Social Welfare and added that, to date, the police had refused to relinquish it despite efforts to retrieve it.

“One of the former commissioners of police promised to vacate his men within two weeks, but within that two weeks, he was transferred out of the state, and a similar thing has happened over the years,” Mr Ikpi said.

Similarly, Blessing Ntamu, a psychologist at the University of Calabar, recalled that the state had remand homes many years ago, but it currently has none.

Ms Ntamu, who is also a gender-based violence expert, said that a remand home was like a correctional facility for children, aiming at behavioural modifications. She said the home was very important, as it was wrong to put children in the same contraption with adult criminals while they were still in their formative years.

Similarly, Philomena Modor, officer in charge of the gender unit in the state police command, said that child offenders were sent to temporary shelters like orphanages as the state had no remand home.

She added that the children were in the orphanage, awaiting their hearing in the family courts, explaining that they could be handed over to their families, from whom they could continue attending the court sessions.

“Even when this offence is grave, like murder or rape, detention in our facility is usually the last resort, and this is when no family member comes for the child.

“Detention in our facility can also be for the child’s protection because if a child has committed a serious crime like murder, releasing that child to society may be risky. ’The child may be killed; so, we keep him or her in our office,’’ Ms Modor said.

On her part, Margaret Ene-Ita, commissioner for social welfare in the state, claimed that the state runs a motherless-babies home and remand home in Uwanse in Calabar.

She, however, declined to comment on the modalities of rehabilitating the child offenders and on any follow-up made by officials of the state government to the police.

Also in Rivers, some residents called for the urgent upgrade of the Port Harcourt Remand Home due to its deplorable condition.

According to Adija Allwel, a public servant, the home, established decades ago under the control of the State Ministry of Youth Development, had served as the only remand facility for juveniles awaiting trial or sentencing.

She said that the facility had been overcrowded and poorly equipped, and struggled with inadequate staff and difficult living conditions for the children.

“The ministry’s core mandate includes providing rehabilitation like skills training and education, counselling and psychological support to help enhance behavioural change.

“Basic needs like food, health, and shelter, as well as integration and monitoring of freed inmates, also formed part of the home’s responsibility. Sadly, these are yet to be achieved as the facility struggles with infrastructural inadequacies,’’ Ms Allwel said.

Ikpanta Samuel, a Port Harcourt-based lawyer, stated that the state government was making efforts, but these should be improved, especially in the areas of skills training for inmates and facility upgrade and expansion.

He noted that the issue of overcrowding was expected, considering increasing crime rates amongst juveniles, a situation he also attributed to internet exposures, peer groups, and dwindling disciplinary culture in schools and society.

Boma George, a rights activist, said that the state remand home was expected to collaborate with the Nigeria Correctional Service through coordinated juvenile rehabilitation and counselling to prevent freed inmates from returning to crime.

The collaboration, according to her, involves sharing information and managing inmates awaiting trial or transfer.

‘’It includes aligning facility management with Nigeria’s juvenile justice reforms and standards; issues of overcrowding and welfare are also expected to be addressed through stakeholder cooperation,’’ she said.

Ms George, however, lamented poor synergy and lack of proper training as some of the challenges limiting the effectiveness of the partnership, thereby affecting service delivery at the home.

In Akwa Ibom, Richard Metong, the assistant superintendent of corrections in Akwa Ibom, said that there were no remand homes in the state, but there were borstal institutions in the correctional service.

According to him, borstal institutions are facilities for minor offenders, similar to correctional centres, but not full-fledged correctional institutions.

Mr Metong said that the children were trained in skills and also given any form of education that would enhance their social integration.

“Borstal is an open camp or training centre for minor offenders who are remanded or sentenced to a custodian centre; the full reformation and rehabilitation centre we have is equally extended to them.

“In fact, they also engage in agricultural activities; they equally have access to educational facilities from primary to secondary school and even up to the National Open University of Nigeria,” he stated.

Mr Metong, also the public relations officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service in Akwa Ibom, however, stated that he was unaware of the number of children who were trained in skills and academics at the university level.

He stated that this was because he did not have access to such specific data and added that NCS always followed up with the children after they were released from institutions.

He said that there was a strong collaboration between the centre and the children’s parents due to their age.

“Since they are underage, they are not completely isolated from the centre; parents usually collaborate with the centre to see their training and ‘up and doing’ in the centre,’’ Mr Metong said.

Mr Metong stated that the correctional service had been making deliberate efforts to upgrade all the facilities across the country.

He stated that the service had initiated a conversation with the Akwa Ibom government through the interior ministry of Interior regarding the upgrade, which might be extended to borstal institutions in the state.

He, however, stated that due to the absence of a remand home in the state, child offenders were being sent to orphanages to await trial and attend their court proceedings.

The essence of a remand home is, among other things, to provide a safe and supervised environment for juveniles while their case is pending resolution.

It also provides children and adolescents with a supportive environment for rehabilitation, reformation, and resocialisation rather than punishment.

 (NAN)