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Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesoa has said the calls for his resignation over recent jailbreaks in the country are unnecessary.
This as the Minister maintained that he won’t be resigning his position over the cases of jailbreak in the country.
Aregbesola made the position known on Wednesday while speaking with State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House in Abuja.
He argued that those agitating for his resignation must understand the enormous security challenges facing the nation at this time and the sacrifices been made by security agents and agencies in tackling the situation.
Naija News recalls there have been a series of jailbreaks in different parts of the nation with the latest being the Jos Correctional Centre attack which happened in November 2021 in which hundreds of prisoners escaped while an officer of the service was also killed.
The development has sparked renewed calls for Aregbesola’s resignation as the nation’s custodial centers (prisons) are under the supervision of his ministry.
The Minister has however said he won’t be resigning.
“Morally, the state owes itself the responsibility of safe custody that must not be violated. So, on that account alone, we must appreciate the enormity of any successful attack on our custodial facility and I so do. But I want us to put these things in the context of our security situation,” he said.
“In Jos, our men died, meaning that the best we could put there was there and when your best could not suffice, it means that it is no longer a question of inability to make preparation or failure for preparedness, it is just that at that instance, we could not just hold the defence as expected.
“As to whether it calls for my resignation, I still don’t see any need for that because it’s not for lack of preparedness that the attacks were successful. No.”
He, however, assured that the federal government will scale up security within and around the various custodial centers to forestall such attacks in the future.
“What I can assure Nigerians is this: Yes, as contextual as these attacks and the successes such criminals are having, we are upping our game and we will not allow it. We will prevent any such opportunistic attack and even make it impossible. And that is what the state must do,” he said.
“We are working with all arms of government, particularly the security, to make our custodial facilities impregnable. We will not rest until that is achieved. That’s the assurance I want to give Nigerians.”
As part of the renewed efforts, the Minister disclosed the FEC on Wednesday granted approval for the sum of N965.9 million to be expended on the purchase of 49 operational vehicles for the correctional service.
The new vehicles will be added to the 513 operational vehicles the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) already possesses.
“The Nigerian Correctional Service, through the ministry of interior, presented a memo to council and obtained approval to spend the sum of N965,902,524.58 to procure 49 operational and Green Maria vehicles,” he said.
“These 49 vehicles will complement the 513 operational and Green Maria vehicles already purchased between 2016 and 2020.”
