The Nigerian Correctional Service has unveiled advanced security measures, including automated search systems and technology-driven surveillance, in a bid to clamp down on contraband smuggling and other criminal activities within correctional facilities.
In 2023, the NCoS confiscated and destroyed contraband items worth over N150 million from custodial centres across the country.
The prohibited items seized through routine cell inspections and proactive measures were incinerated at the service’s Headquarters in Abuja.
Among the items destroyed were cell phones, SIM cards, laptops, hard drugs, power banks, and other electronics deemed contraband for inmates, in line with Sections 51 and 52 of the Service Standing Orders.
Speaking on the new measures, spokesperson for NCoS, Umar Abubakar, stressed the service’s commitment to restoring order and integrity in correctional facilities.
“We are putting up eagle-eyed strategies in curtailing contraband from gaining access to our facilities.
“We do this by constant searching of the facilities, application of technology in search and surveillance operations, use of the canine unit in searching as well as making stringent punishments for those who are found wanting,” the spokesperson noted.
Abubakar highlighted the service’s zero-tolerance policy toward corruption, revealing that several staff members implicated in contraband trafficking had been dismissed after being adjudicated under the law and public service rules.
“For our staff who were involved in such unwholesome acts, we adjudicate them in line with the law and public service rules accordingly. Many of them have been dismissed for such acts, as the Service has zero tolerance for trafficking in contrabands,” he affirmed.
