By Mudiaga Affe and Kassim Omomia
Unidentified gunmen yesterday attacked Kabba Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Kogi State and set free 240 inmates.
It is the fourth massive jailbreak in one year as the country grapples with multiple security crises.
On October 19, 2020, and April 5, 2021, two correctional facilities in Benin City, Edo State, and another one in Owerri, Imo State respectively were attacked with many inmates released.
According to Reuters, the attackers blew up the prison’s perimeter fence to gain access into the Correction Centre.
Nigeria’s prison service, however, confirmed that the gunmen were heavily armed and fought a fierce gun battle with the guards.
Eyewitnesses account revealed that four security officers were killed at the Security Custodial Centre, but this has not been officially confirmed.
Reacting swiftly to the development, the Police have set out on the trail of the unknown gunmen who attacked the Kabba Correction facility, killing four persons, including two soldiers on guard, and freeing about 240 inmates.
Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 8, Ayuba Edeh, stated that the police high command and sister security agencies in the zone have beefed up security to bring normalcy, track fleeing convicts and establish the reason for the attack.
Edeh said he has directed the state Commissioner of Police and other heads of security agencies in the state to go after the fleeing criminals. Already, three suspected escapee inmates have been rearrested.
They were apprehended yesterday morning near a hotel in Kabba on their way to Ilorin.
According to reports, one soldier was fatally injured while the operation lasted.
Reports indicated that the soldiers had mounted a routine checkpoint along the Lokoja- Okebukun -Kabba road, about 50 meters from the correctional facility, where the gunmen attacked them and thereafter invaded the prison
ThisNigeria learned that after killing the soldiers, the criminal elements also struck at a makeshift apartment belonging to the military men before breaking into the Correctional Centre and subsequently releasing the inmates.
Similarly, Correctional Officers on duty were not spared during the invasion by the gunmen as they also received various degrees of injuries, ThisNigeria was reliably informed.
However, Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Francis Enobore, a Controller of Corrections, confirmed the incident in a statement yesterday.
He disclosed that the attack took place at about midnight on Sunday and no less than 240 inmates reportedly escaped.
Enobore explained that the criminals came in their numbers to the center and instantly attacked heavily armed guards in a severe gun faceoff for hours
He revealed that the Comptroller-General, Haliru Nababa has ordered a strategic recapture plan to be implemented for the re-arrest of the fleeing inmates while a comprehensive probe has been launched by the Service to unravel and bring to book those responsible for the dastardly act.
In addition, the Comptroller-General appealed to the members of the public to furnish security operatives with useful intelligence that will assist in recapturing the fleeing prisoners.
The invaded Correctional service Kabba was established in 2008 with a capacity of 200.
As of the time of the attack, it housed 294 inmates, out of which 224 were pre-trial detainees and 70 convicted inmates.
A source confirmed that some of the prisoners were later rearrested about 8 am on Monday, beside Kudon Hotel, Kabba, when they made effort to board a vehicle to escape towards neighboring Kwara State.
Thousands of inmates still missing in Edo, Imo jailbreaks
On April 5, 2021, dare-devil gunmen also attacked the headquarters of the Imo State Police Command and Correctional Centre in Owerri. After the attack, no less than 1, 884 inmates escaped. To date, several inmates that escaped from the facility are still at large.
In Edo State, 1,993 inmates escaped on October 19, 2020, after jailbreaks at the Benin and Oko Medium Security Correctional Centres in Benin City.
Of the escapees, a total of 1,685 inmates are still at large, while only a paltry 141 inmates have either been recaptured or returned voluntarily.
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Senate probes loss of $9bn to illegal gold mining today
By Andy Asemota
The Senate will today commence a probe into the annual loss of $9bn to illegal gold mining.
Chairman of Senate Committee on Solid Minerals and Steel Development, Senator Tanko Al-Makura, indicated this yesterday.
He was speaking at the start of a three-day public hearing on four bills and a motion organized by the committee in Abuja.
The senator revealed that the Red Chamber would subject the motion on the urgent need to investigate the multi-billion-dollar loss to thorough scrutiny.
Al-Makura, who is also the sponsor of one of the bills examined at the forum titled: Nigerian Minerals Development Corporation (Establishment) Bill, 2021, did not, however, give the salient details of the huge loss to illegal miners.
On the justification for the establishment of the NMDC, the federal lawmaker lamented the incongruent manner in which the solid mineral industry had over the years found itself due to a lack of policy that could stimulate production and adhere to international best practices.
“However, NMDC seeks to develop upstream exploration and production, midstream mineral processing and metallurgy and downstream logistics, trade, and export which will catalyze investment in the entire mining value chain in Nigeria,” Al-Makura stated.
He further said, “The establishment of the NMDC will urgently address the challenges of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) currently facing state governments in Nigeria, as it would provide the much-needed revenue to deliver on the (current) administration’s priority areas of infrastructure development, social inclusion and poverty reduction, industrialization and job creation for the citizens of Nigeria.”
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According to him, upon the establishment of the corporation, initial funding shall be by way of a sovereign guarantee covering the sum of N5bn for the successful take-off of operation.
Similarly, Senator Yakubu Oseni, the vice chairman of the Senate Committee and sponsor of the second proposed legislation titled: Solid Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (Establishment) Bill, deliberated on at yesterday’s session, expressed concern that the mineral sector in Nigeria had failed to meet the public expectation of driving economic growth and generating employment to the teeming youths.
“I am unsettled by the present pitiable contribution of the solid minerals sector to the nation’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“While many have attributed the situation to overdependence on crude oil, poor legal, regulatory and institutional framework and lack of up-to-date geoscience data that can facilitate investment decision making, I am ever optimistic that, with the right legislation and political will which the present administration is ready to muster, the situation can be turned around,” he opined.
