Ibrahim Babangida, a native of Adamawa State, was once a commercial motorcyclist hustling on the streets of Lagos to fend for his family. But his life took a turn for the worse when his motorcycle was confiscated, and he found himself behind the gates of the notorious Kirikiri Correctional Centre.
Recently released, Babangida shared details about his time in the centre, picturing a place where hunger and squalor reign. His account, however, is met with denial from the Lagos State Correctional Service, is pathetic and suggests how some inmates with minor cases get treated across Nigerian Correctional Centres.
“Hunger is killing people in Kirikiri Correctional Centre seriously,” Babangida revealed in a 13:44 minutes interview footage with RFI Hausa. He described witnessing fellow inmates die from starvation, a fate he narrowly escaped himself. “I have seen several people in the centre die of hunger.”
Babangida’s journey to Kirikiri began in the streets of Lagos, where, after losing his source of livelihood, he was forced to sleep under a Lagos flyover bridge. “I was sleeping under a bridge in Lagos. The police arrested me and incarcerated before I was sent to prison. I am not feeling well now. I was arraigned in court before they sent me to the correctional centre for four months.”
“There is no food there. It is just like poison, likewise the water – it is contaminated, causing skin rashes,” he said while displaying the rashes covering his body, the result, he claimed, of bathing in the tainted water. “Whenever you pour water on your body, you will start scratching. See all my body is covered in rashes,” he said in Hausa.
Daily Deaths, Dire Conditions
Babangida’s description of the food in Kirikiri Correctional Centre was equally distressing. He spoke of receiving meals in quantities so small they were served in Peak Milk tins. “Inmates are dying of hunger daily. Dead bodies are being evacuated every day.”
The food, he said, consisted mainly of beans, rice, or garri, served without flavor and in portions far too small to sustain anyone. “In fact, if you eat it, you will develop rashes. They apply cicatrin powder in the food, making us very weak. And you can see a lot of sand in the food.”
Babangida described an atmosphere where some inmates, especially “notorious criminals,” were afforded better living conditions, while others like himself were considered “just visiting inmates” and subjected to extreme neglect. “Inmates are compacted in small places, and it is pathetic,” he added. “But there are notorious criminals who sleep in better places, unlike we who are considered just visiting or spying inmates.”
The lack of proper medical care further worsened the situation. “They only share paracetamol to the patients,” He lamented, revealing that he had no one to take him to the hospital, leaving him stranded in his misery in the creeks of Lagos.
The Lagos State Government had in 2022, banned commercial motorcycles commonly known as “okadas,” in four LGs and later extended to 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 15 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the city.
It is Not True – Kirikiri Correctional CentreÂ
In contrast to Babangida’s allegations, the Lagos State Correctional Service denied his claims. Rotimi Oladukun, the Spokesperson for the service, dismissed the allegations, stating that the description of conditions in Kirikiri Correctional Centre by the ex-inmate did not align with reality.
“Though we have three correctional centres in Kirikiri, and I don’t know which one he is referring to, generally, these allegations are not true,” Oladukun told WikkiTimes.
He pointed out that the government had increased the budget for feeding in the correctional centre by 50%, ensuring that inmates receive adequate food. “There are more than three sources of clean water,” he added, refuting claims of contaminated water.
Regarding the accusations of abuse by other inmates, Oladukun insisted that there were strict rules in place to prevent such mistreatment. “There are guiding rules in the centres generally,” he said, implying that such incidents of junior inmates being flogged for minor offenses were rare, if they occurred at all.
Oladukun also dismissed Babangida’s health concerns, suggesting that any ailments he experienced in Kirikiri might have been pre-existing conditions. “Regarding his ill health, the inmate might have come with preexisting health challenges to the centre.”
But the former inmate insisted that he contaminated with the ailment in the correctional centre.
Oladukun added that the facility in the centre had medical personnel on hand to attend to inmates’ needs, and if they were unable to manage a particular case, a referral system was in place.
Crisis in the System
Nigeria’s prison system has long been criticized for overcrowding, poor hygiene, and inadequate medical care. The country’s correctional centres are notorious for being underfunded and understaffed, leading to the very conditions Babangida described: hunger, illness, and death.
According to Amnesty International, Nigeria’s correctional centres are filled with people whose human rights are systematically violated with appalling living conditions.
“They are damaging to the physical and mental well-being of inmates and in many cases constitute clear threats to health. Conditions such as overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of food and medicines and denial of contact with families and friends fall short of UN standards for the treatment of prisoners.”
“The worst conditions constitute ill-treatment. In many Nigerian prisons inmates sleep two to a bed or on the floor in filthy cells. Toilets are blocked and overflowing or simply nonexistent, and there is no running water. As a result, disease is widespread. Most prisons have small clinics or sick bays which lack medicines, and in many prisons, inmates have to pay for their own medicines.Â
The international not-for-profit body added that some Nigerian inmates are called ‘forgotten inmates’ as they never go to court and nobody knows how much longer their detention will last, simply because their case files are lost.
For Awopetu Ronke Grace (PhD) at the Department of Psychology, Benue State University, Makurdi, in recent times, prisons in Nigeria have witnessed unprecedented increase in the admission of prison inmates. The rate, according to him, turns out to housing prison inmates beyond the capacity at which most prisons were built for.
“It constitutes a serious challenge in Nigeria prisons especially in prisons located in the metropolitan cities. In such cells there is hardly enough room for inmates to move their body and limbs freely. In such a state each prisoner is allocated a “post” which approximately is a space of a foot and a half,” he said in research he conducted in 2022.
Nigeria has ratified several other international and regional human rights instruments including the convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), ratified on 28 July 2001.
Babangida’s ordeal in Kirikiri correctional centre, though denied by officials, cannot be easily dismissed. It sheds light on a system that is failing those it is meant to rehabilitate and calls for a deeper investigation into the true conditions within Nigeria’s correctional centres.Â
