The Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS, has clarified that it did not ban religious activities of inmates in custodial centres across the country.
Francis Enobore, the service public relations officer, SPRO, in a statement made available to journalists on Sunday, February 20, 2022, in Abuja said the statement making the rounds across news platforms are false and misleading.
Part of the statement read, “The service, in fact, encourages all forms of genuine visits to inmates by relations and well-meaning individuals.
“This is to promote psycho-social support of inmates which is pivotal to reformation and rehabilitation.”
However, the NCS noted that the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, in its wisdom, advised the sustenance of preventive protocols in the prisons since the pandemic.
“To put records straight, visits to custodial centres were temporarily suspended in April 2021, in compliance with National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) COVID-19 protocol to prevent the dreaded pandemic from spreading to the custodial centres.
“This includes crowd control and strict monitoring of migration amongst others. Hence, the management of the NCoS is yet to relax the restriction on visits to custodial centres, “the statement read.
Enobore added that centres in Nigeria, with its overwhelming population phenomenon, were able to maintain zero infection status among the inmates through strict measures.
