Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have no option than to wield the big stick as succession crisis among top echelon at the National headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Service has triggered a full blown management problem.

It was gathered that this is against the backdrop of the failure of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to put down his feet to stem the avoidable crisis.

Reports from authoritative sources in Ilorin, Kwara state, revealed that Mr Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, the current Controller General of Correctional Service, has been illegally occupying the position as he ought to have officially retired from service on the 9th of May 2025 according to his records of service.

“This has led to a situation whereby the deputies ( DCGs) have decided not to cooperate with the CG since the 9th of May, and Nwakuche has allegedly been running the service with the Minister of Interior, Tunji-Ojo.

“The DCGs namely Ado Sale, Lanre Amoran, Amos Kupan, Suleiman Adagiri and Ope Fatinukun believe that Nwakuche should have handed over to one of them since May, because, according to one of them, President Tinubu did not extend the tenure of Service for Nwakuche.

“Administration has been at a very low ebb at the National Headquarters of the correctional service as the DCGs and ACGs have refused to take orders from the CG because the staff are confused as to whether the CG should still be in office in the last four months.”

According to sources, President Tinubu confirmed the appointment of Sylvester Nwakuche as substantive CG which the Senate finally confirmed and he was decorated on the 2nd of May, a few days to his official retirement, whereby he has been in office since December 2024 in Acting capacity.

A staff member while reacting under the condition of anonymity said: “Nothing again is working in the correctional service, staff are buying uniforms from open market, no course allowances for staff on training, instead you pay hundreds of thousands, our salaries are deducted for frivolous projects every month and all these things are allocated for by government every month.”

A seasoned lawyer in an interview suggested to the Federal Government to carry out a holistic overhaul of the correctional system to be able to align with the name change from Prisons to Correctional Service.

The lawyer observed that, ” a visit to correctional centers in the federation depicts a gory picture of thousands of abandoned inmates, no adequate food supplies, no drugs, unconducive cells, no vehicle to convey inmates to court as the inmates are extorted by warders to pay their transport to and from courts.

The lawyer noted that “all these fall short of the International Standard Minimum Rule required by the United Nations of which Nigeria is signatory to.”

He called on President Tinubu to do a proper check on the Nation’s correctional system because, a nation is often rated according to how she treats the vulnerable, especially the prison inmates.

Minister Tunji-Ojo, appointed Nwakuche as CG in Acting capacity on the 14th of December 2024, because of the confusion that ensued at the expiration of the tenure of former CG Haliru Nababa.

Nababa’s attempts according to sources, to get his tenure extended hit the rocks when there was disagreement between Tunji-Ojo and Ja’afaru Ahmed, a retired CG and the immediate past Secretary of the Civil Defence, Correctional, Immigration and Fire Service, CDCFI Board, as to whose name among the DCGs and ACGs to forward to the Presidency to take over from Nababa, because Ja’afaru wanted a candidate and Tunji-Ojo wanted a different candidate.

Tunji-Ojo was alleged to have angrily instructed Ja’afaru as the Secretary of the CDCFI Board to write to Nababa to hand over to Nwakuche in Acting capacity as a stop gap measure.

That stop gap measure has now given rise to crisis in the service, because Nwakuche has overstayed his tenure with over four months, which is unacceptable according to the Public Service Rules, PSR.

Attempts to reach the Public Relations Officer, of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Abuja headquarters, were not successful.

However, the Chief Media officer of the Secretary to the board of Civil Defense, Correctional Service, Immigration and Federal Fire Service, Malam Hamza, said “the CG’s appointment was recently confirmed and yet to complete his tenure.”

End