The Comptroller General of Nigerian Prison Service, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim, has charge officers and men of the Nigerian Prison not to be deterred by what befell their colleagues at the Warri Prison, saying that it was part of the hazards of the job.
He said security agencies are on the trail of the four inmates that left with the kidnap gang (attackers), assuring that the service will remain pro-active in the discharge of the statutory responsibilities in spite of the fact that some of these challenges come up unexpectedly.
Mr. Ibrahim made the observation at a private hospital in Warri where he visited one of the warders that sustained injury during last Wednesday attack on the prison wardens by daredevil kidnap gang.
He was at the hospital to see for himself the degree of injury meted out on his men, shortly after visiting the Warri Prisons on Friday.
“In the first place, these are part of the challenges especially when it comes to security work. Immediately you put on uniform you have put on the uniform to serve this country and we are also praying always for God to help us as we continue to put our lives in danger. But you know when we have this type of incident so many people will be touched.
“Like the family for example, I have just gone to visit the family of the deceased man and the wife was just telling me that the responsibility that rest on her came without notice, the children, the school and what have you. But we thank God that some of the staff were spared and I have come to visit one of the staff here in the hospital. And for those who lost their beloved ones, we pray that God will continue to console them, God will continue to give them the comfort, God will continue to cover the gap.
“On our own part the government have also made some provisions for this type of situation and we are going to tap on this situation so that the benefits that accrued will be paid quickly. We also want to encourage the staff for performing their duties because many people before us have laid their lives for this country. And we too we are in the process of working to ensure that this country will develop and move forward. In the course of this there will be accidents such as this.
“It is our prayer also that those who are responsible for this may have a change of mind.
Going about killing people is not a good thing and we want to believe too that law is there. For those who are contemplating on joining these type of people, it does not pay. And for those who are in it, we are praying that they should change their mind and change for the better”, the Prisons boss said.
Ibrahim explained that although the Prisons is proactive, there could be still be shortfalls during some challenges.
“Can you tell me any organization that does not experience this type of incidents. All over the world, even the army, police and what have you, things like these happen. You know that society is dynamic and whenever things like this happen, we go back to the drawing board and try to re-strategize.”
While confirming the number of inmates released and efforts being made to re-arrest those at large, he said “Out of eight, for are already around and four are still at large. But like I tell you, investigation going on with the police and other security agents effort are on to ensure that the rest are apprehended.
“A lot of things are taken into consideration,like the distance and the number of people you are taking and since the court was just 200 kilometers away, the security arrangement was adequate. We have seven of our men taking nine inmates to court which I think was adequate considering the distance but it is just that it was just unfortunate. There are times that we ask for their help when it is considered necessary and they have been obliging.”
