The Federal Government is set to build a 3000 capacity prison in Rivers State.
According to the Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazau, who made the disclosure in Port Harcourt when he paid a courtesy call on the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, the prison project will be located in Bori on a piece of land allocated to the Prisons Service in 1979.
The Minister lamented the over congestion of prisons nationwide citing example of the Port Harcourt Prisons which was built to accommodate 804 inmates now having 4,204 prisoners.
The Minister told the governor that the Stakeholders Panel on Prison Decongestion recommended Rivers as one of the states from the six geopolitical zones for the construction of the 3000 capacity Prison.
In his remarks, Governor Wike promised to provide necessary supports and cooperation towards the commencement and completion of the new prison project.
The Governor further called on the Federal Government to complete the ongoing construction of a prison at Omoku so that it could decongest other prisons in the state.
The Controller General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed, told the Governor that the contractor handling Omoku Prison had been contacted to hasten the project for early completion.
Others in the Minister’s entourage are: Success Bello, ACG Works and Logistics Abuja; Dr JJ Olorunmola, ACG, Zone E’; the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Zaki; the Controller of Prison, Rivers State, OT Tinuoye; the Controller of Prisons, Bayelsa State, VU Chabua; and the Officer-in-charge Port Harcourt Maximum Prison, DCP Felix Lawrence.
Others on the entourage are: Commanders of Sister Agencies in the Ministry of Interior, Immigration, NSCDC, and Federal Fire Service.
