- An independent investigative panel established by the Federal Government has uncovered deep-seated corruption, funds diversion, and massive rackets in the administration of inmate feeding contracts within the Nigerian Correctional Service.
- The final report revealed that highly influential figures, including politicians and top correctional officers, utilized front companies to secure food contracts, which were then illegally subcontracted at ridiculously low rates, leading to severe inmate malnutrition and documented deaths.
- Submitted to Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the report strongly recommends an immediate increase in the daily inmate feeding allowance from ₦750 to ₦3,000, alongside the complete mechanization of prison farm centers to eliminate external vendor dependency.
An independent investigative panel set up by the Federal Government to look into institutional rot within the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has uncovered a widespread corruption ring deliberately fueling inmate malnutrition and prison congestion.
Eko Hot Blog reports that according to the panel’s final report, which was submitted to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on June 3, 2026, and published on the ministry’s web portal, massive irregularities have completely undermined prison welfare across the federation.
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Investigators discovered that funds meant for inmate feeding, healthcare, and rehabilitation were systematically misappropriated through inflated contract figures and criminal subcontracting channels.
The comprehensive investigation, which kicked off on September 30, 2024, involved detailed physical assessments of 86 custodial facilities spanning 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory, alongside public hearings and an international study mission to Turkey.
The field findings revealed heartbreaking conditions in various facilities. In Imo State, investigators recorded alarming instances at the Owerri Correctional Centre where small, nominal portions of raw fish were divided into fractional pieces to feed multiple inmates.
In Akwa Ibom State, the panel directly linked severe malnutrition caused by poor and inadequate food rations to recent inmate deaths.
The report explicitly accused an elite network consisting of past and serving senior correctional officers, politicians, and high-level public servants of weaponizing the procurement process.
It noted that the vast majority of companies awarded food contracts were merely fronts for these influential figures or their relatives.
Because many of these companies were located far from the custodial centers they were contracted to serve, they illegally subcontracted the feeding responsibilities back to the local officers-in-charge at rates far below government-approved values.
For example, when the state approved a ₦750 daily feeding rate, contractors sublet the duty to prison officials at ₦460, and when the rate was adjusted to ₦1,250, it was subcontracted at just ₦600.
Officers who attempted to resist this highly fraudulent arrangement were routinely threatened with punitive redeployments by the powerful contractors.
Shockingly, the panel further established that this contract ring created a sickening financial incentive for correctional officers to keep prison populations exceptionally high.
Because profit margins are tied directly to the volume of food rations awarded, corrupt officials actively worked to under-utilize non-custodial sentencing options and deliberately abandoned state-owned agricultural programs.
To completely break this corrupt cycle, the panel has recommended an immediate, legally mandated increase in the daily feeding allowance from ₦750 to ₦3,000 per inmate to match current economic realities.
It also called for the full mechanization of NCoS farm centers to ensure facilities can feed inmates independently, thereby wiping out reliance on external vendors.
