Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior, Adams Oshiomhole, has said rainstorms destroyed the Suleja Correctional Centre in Niger State because it was constructed with mud over 100 years ago.

Mr Oshiomhole disclosed this on Tuesday after a closed meeting with the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

Some inmates escaped from the old Suleja Correctional Centre in Suleja after a rainstorm destroyed parts of the facility two weeks ago.

Mr Oshiomhole, who represents Edo North Senatorial District, said the inmates escaped after a rainstorm wreaked havoc on the walls of the prison facility.

“I know exactly that this particular prison was built in 1914. I think that was the year of amalgamation of Southern and Northern Nigeria for about 200 people. And they now have about 419 inmates. And some of these places were built with mud.

“So, it was not a jailbreak. You had heavy rainfall, a storm, and then the wall fell, and then the roof, even if you were in your private house and it is raining, and you have a storm, and your roof is gone, and your walls come down, will you remain in the place?

He said some of the inmates have been re-arrested and that efforts are ongoing to arrest those on the run.

“And so, naturally, people find an escape. The good news is that they have what it takes to retrack them. And they have already re-arrested some of them, and the effort is still ongoing to get the rest,” he said.

The senator commended the minister and urged the federal government to pay attention to correctional centres across the country.

Mr Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo State, also lamented the congestion of correctional centres.

Meanwhile, Mr Tunji-Ojo told journalists that his office had briefed the lawmakers about the escape of inmates in the Suleja Correctional Centre.

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The minister said the situation was under control.

“We spoke about the root cause of the matter. What happened. We spoke about what we are doing, which I won’t be able to say here for security reasons. And we also discussed solutions in terms of making sure that this doesn’t happen again.

“And I can tell you, the federal government is in control of this; everything is under control. Mr President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is putting in everything through the Ministry of Interior and the Nigerian Correctional Services, to make sure that there is no recurrence. We will have everythingonal centre that is safe for all inmates”, the minister said.