Nigerian Prisons Illegally Recruits 3,000, Pockets N33m

According to Vanguard, a  syndicate within the Nigerian Prison Service has successfully recruited no fewer than 3,000 officers and men through the backdoor into the paramilitary agency barely a few weeks to the end of the present administration.

Inside prison sources confirmed that each of the new recruits was made to pay a compulsory levy of N11,000 cash to a designated senior officer at the headquarters of the Nigerian Prison Service in Abuja, thereby enriching the officials involved in the illegal exercise by N33 million.

The money, it was learnt, would be shared among top officials on a formula to be decided by those in the syndicate.

The NPS is said to have devised the means to swell its ranks under the guise of ‘replacing 300’ staff who had left the service and to also rake in some money for some key officers while proving an avenue for them to recruit their loved ones, friends and associates into the agency of government since official recruitment was not possible given the economic down-turn in the country.

Investigations revealed that to keep the illegal recruitment from prying eyes, the NPS has directed the new recruits to report directly to its training schools in Kaduna, Owerri and Lagos for documentation and commencement of training instead of doing same at the NPS headquarters, as is the norm for new recruits.

The first batch of recruits reported in training schools last month while the last batch reported this week for documentation and training in the three schools.

The illegal recruitment is said to have received the full backing of top Federal Government officials, who also took advantage of their tacit endorsement to secure placement for their children, friends and relatives.

To cover the illegality, the fresh appointments are said to have been back-dated to three or four years by the NPS.

But Imo and Kebbi states are said to have had the highest number of new recruits because of the presence of influence of key officials of the two states in the NPS.

Some principal officers of the NPS are said to have been given quota to produce officers and men for the recruitment based on their closeness to the syndicate and their positions in the service.

According to inside sources, some state controllers of prisons were given two slots each while deputy controllers of prisons without portfolios were given three slots each to secure their endorsement of the illegality.

It was also gathered that some traditional rulers were given between two and three slots based on their presumed influence of closeness to the centre of power.

But the illegal development is said to be putting the NPS on collision course with the staff, who have threatened to expose the provocative and illegal recruitment exercise to the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The staff, particularly, those who were promoted since 2004 are said to be angry with the NPS for refusing to pay them their promotion packages on the excuse their it does not have enough money to do so, while embarking on the recruitment of new officers and men.