By Josephine Miller/Hafsat Hassan

The National Civil Society Council of Nigeria (NCSCN) has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on detention facilities and establish a special fund for their upgrade nationwide.

The Executive Director of NCSCN, Blessing Akinlosotu, made the call at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, following the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in a detention facility in Minna, Niger.

Akinlosotu said the council had held an emergency session to respond to the report of the presidential panel set up to investigate the incident.

He called for improved budgetary allocations to upgrade detention facilities and strengthen funding for security agencies.

“We can authoritatively declare that, among all detention facilities in Nigeria, only that of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission can be considered above average.

“We also call on the government to discourage undue and unjust detention of citizens.

“It will not be too much or out of place to declare a state of emergency on detention facilities and even correctional centres in Nigeria,” he said.

Akinlosotu commended the 10-member
independent committee, chaired by Jonathan Kure, a former Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services, for its work.

He called for the upgrade of correctional centres and other facilities used by security agencies authorised to detain citizens in connection with criminal or civil matters.

The NCSCN executive director also urged the authorities to punish those responsible for the deaths in Niger, cautioning against generalising the incident to implicate the entire Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

“Those who masterminded it in Niger should be punished.

“We should not now spread it as if the entire Civil Defence Corps should be brought down.

“That is not good for the nation. We should go straight for those who have committed the offence,” he said.

Also speaking, Amb. Ade Emmanuel, Director-General of the Coalition of Nigerian Youths on Security and Safety Affairs, commended the presidential panel for its work and report.

Emmanuel also called for a state of emergency on security facilities, particularly correctional centres and detention cells.

He urged the government to allocate substantial funds to renovate existing facilities and establish modern detention centres.

“We must commend the panel set up by the President and the report it has presented.

“We are pleading that a state of emergency should be declared on our security facilities, including prisons and cells where citizens are detained, whether they are criminals or victims of circumstances,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Gambo Jangidi, Director of Media at NCSCN, urged the Federal Government to take the panel’s recommendations seriously.

Jangidi said the committee had done a commendable job, adding that its findings should serve as a basis for corrective measures to prevent a recurrence.

“We are talking about human beings here. We commend the committee for the good job it has done.

“Our concern is to ensure that corrections are made so that we do not experience this kind of incident in the future,” he said.(NAN)

Edited by Magdalene Ukuedojor