Kuje attack: Lawan fumes, orders installation of CCTV in prisons

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has expressed disappointment over the lack of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre, which was attacked by terrorists on Tuesday night.

Lawan, however, ordered the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to make provision for CCTV in all correctional centres in its 2023 budget to tackle reoccurring attacks in the country.

The Senate President said this on Thursday after an assessment visit to the Kuje correctional centre.

Lawan expressed shock over none functional CCTV at the facility and described the attack as disappointing and a sign of failure of the security system.

He said: “An attack on the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre can only have been possible with the collaboration of insiders within the nation’s correctional system.

“The attack on this correctional facility is symptomatic of the failure of security architecture. The attack is only a culmination of the failure.

“We were told that an estimated 300 suspected terrorists attacked this facility. They came on foot and I believe they should have been detected.

“In the first place, 300 people will not come for an operation like this without planning. Planning must have taken a week, a month or a bit more.

“I believe that our security agencies should have picked this from their tracking systems in the FCT,” Lawan said.

He added: “Secondly, having gone round the facility itself, we are disappointed that this facility does not have CCTV cameras, something that would record and give you details of what is happening and sometimes record the events.

“This is a medium security custodial centre, how on earth in the FCT facility of this magnitude we don’t have CCTV? It means we can say that all other medium security centres across the country do not have CCTV.

“We have asked the Comptroller General of Correctional Service to ensure that the request for CCTV at the maximum and medium custodial centres of the country are included in their 2023 budget because this is essential and indispensable.

“Now, as this facility lacks a functional CCTV, there’s no record of what happened, except narration. But if we had CCTV, at least the records would have been there and analysis made, and arrest will be based on the information from the CCTV.”

Lawan tasked the security agencies to ensure that the inmates who escaped from the centre were brought back.

Also speaking, the Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Army Battalion in Gwagwalada, Lt. Col. Adisa, told Lawan that over 300 suspected insurgents attacked the facility on Tuesday.

“Only a total of 50 security personnel were on ground when they came armed with Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and other weapons,” he said.

The Star