Nigeria: At Least 281 Prisoners have been Disappear from Jails Affected by Floods

Nigerian Prision in the city of Maidiguri, Sept,2024 Photo: @infobaeamerica

September 16, 2024 Hour: 4:03 pm

The prison agency indicated that it works with other security agencies and has «activated deployments, both covert and open, to look for them».

The Correctional Service of Nigeria (NCOS) reported on Sunday that at least 281 prisoners remain missing after the evacuation of prisons damaged by the floods that flooded much of the city of Maiduguri last week, capital of the state of Borno (northeast), a territory shaken by jihadist violence.

In a late release, the government released information on the inmates to secure their arrest, including their biometrics. «After the evacuation of prisoners by agents with the support of security agencies to a safe centre, it was found that 281 inmates were missing», said the Correctional Service.

The prison agency indicated that it works with other security agencies and has «activated deployments, both covert and open, to look for them». Currently, “a total of seven inmates have been recaptured and returned to custody, while efforts are being made on the ground to locate the rest and return them to safe custody,» he added.

The floods «left scars and demolished the walls of prison facilities, including the Maiduguri Medium Security Custody Centre (MSCC), as well as the city’s prison staff units». The NCOS spokesman confessed that 70 percent of Maiduguri was flooded.

Prison authorities in Nigeria said that 281 inmates had escaped after devastating floods in the country's northeast collapsed the walls of a jail https://t.co/oEUarchutB pic.twitter.com/HXCAdFnOuO
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 16, 2024

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), more than one million people have been affected and over 400,000 displaced by the floods in Borno, described as the worst in thirty years following the collapse of a dam, Which has caused the loss of at least 30 people.

NEMA spokesman Manzo Ezekiel stressed that the disaster aggravates the humanitarian situation in the region, which since 2009 has been under attack by the jihadist group Boko Haram, violence intensified from 2016 with the appearance of its split, the Islamic State in the West African Province (ISWAP).