Dogs get N800 feeding allowance while inmates get N750 - NCS reveals

The Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), Haliru Nababa has revealed that it spends more money to feed dogs than the inmates.

According to him, inmates are fed with N750 daily and security dogs get N800 daily as feeding allowance.

He made this known on Thursday, December 7, while speaking at a joint National Assembly Committee on Interior.

The CG noted that the N750 feeding allowance per day is reduced to N720 after the reduction of VAT and tax.

Mr Nababa further said that the quantity of the food and the ingredients needed to prepare it were contained in the menu chart.

He said, “The NCS has written to the Minister of Interior requesting a review of the amount we are using to feed the inmates from N750 per day to N3,000 per day. We are still waiting for approval. We are therefore seeking the assistance of the National Assembly to approve the increment.

“We have made provision for the feeding of inmates, dogs and staff on training in six training institutions across the country. The money is grossly inadequate.

“The total number of inmates in 2023 is 81, 354 nationwide while 53, 352 are awaiting trial. The budget for feeding each of them per day is N751 per day at N250 per meal, per inmate.”

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who is the Chairman of the joint committee, expressed worry about the sum spent on feeding the inmates going by the market price.

He said, “About 53, 352 or more are not convicted yet, they are awaiting trial. They are not guilty of any offence known to law; they are innocent under our laws. For an innocent Nigerian who is being held in a correctional home, N250 per meal is grossly inadequate. I wonder what you are feeding them with. They are obviously underfed.

“The Minister of Interior said yesterday that the NCS rather than being correctional is dehumanising. I am surprised that the 2024 budget is still based on old figures. I am surprised the CG cannot, based on the market forces, present before us the realistic amount that could feed an innocent Nigerian who has not been pronounced guilty by any court. You mean the chart is so complicated that you will need to read a book to tell us?”

Oshiomhole on his part said there are several Nigerians who are innocent but sent to prison courtesy of a wealthy personality.

He added that the prisons are meant to serve as correctional centers and not condemnation centers.

Oshiomhole said, “This is a very important assignment. A lot of Nigerians under your care are innocent. They are in prisons, courtesy of big men and women who want to ‘teach them a lesson’.

“Many of them are there on an offence they knew nothing about. However, the system has put them under your care. Somebody said if Mandela was in a Nigerian prison for 27 years, he would have lost his sanity by the time he was released to govern South Africa.

“Our prisons are meant to correct the behaviours of the people. They are not condemnation centres. They are not to dehumanise. How can you look us eye to eye and tell us that you feed a grown-up man in Nigeria with N750 a day?

“One of the things that have come out is that an unconvicted Nigerian is being fed with N750 and you feed each of the dogs under your care with N800 per day! So, a dog is better fed in the Nigerian prison than an innocent Nigerian in your custody.

“It is a policy issue. We don’t know the intention of the government to allocate more money to feed animals than to feed human beings. It is a major policy issue for us.”