Reformation Programmes Bearing Fruit as Repeat Offenders Drop From 11,616 to 1,382

The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo says repeat offenders in the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), dropped from 11,616 in 2023 to 1,382 in 2025.

Tunji-Ojo revealed this when he received reports on Wednesday in Abuja, from the investigative panel set up to investigate some allegations against the NCoS.

Giving a breakdown of the statistics, he said that the figure declined to 3,156 in 2024 before it drastically drop to 1,382 in 2025.

The minister attributed the decline to sustained rehabilitation and reformation programmes organised for inmates in correctional centres across the country.

“Recidivism was 11,616 when we came in in 2023 but in 2025 it came down to 1,382 recidivists which means that our reformation programmes are bearing fruits.

“The point is that we are no longer where we were as we are making progress, and for us not until recidivism gets to zero, we cannot say we have succeeded,” he said.

He also revealed that 15,632 inmates were admitted into custody in May 2026 while 14,190 were released under various terms of imprisonment during the same period.

Tunji-Ojo assured that the investigative report would not be consigned to the shelves, but would aid the development of an implementation framework backed by a monitoring and evaluation committee.

“This report will not gather dust on the shelves, we are going to be very aggressive in terms of implementation,” he said.

He reiterated that the Federal Government remained committed to correctional centres that had been consumed by urbanisation.

The minister called on state governments to partner with the federal government on relocation exercise, noting that the burden of custodial management was largely a state responsibility.

“When we share the assets, we should also think of sharing the liabilities. About 90 per cent of these inmates are state offenders, not federal offenders and 67 per cent are awaiting trial,” he said.

He confirmed that President Bola Tinubu had approved a 50 per cent increment in inmate feeding allowances, which had already taken effect and challenged civil society to hold the service accountable for its implementation.

“It is now the responsibility of civil society and all Nigerians to hold the correctional service accountable for improvement in the feeding of inmates, because President Bola Tinubu has approved it and the Ministry of Finance has started paying,” he said.

The ministry’s Permanent Secretary Dr. Magdalene Ajani, said the investigative panel during its investigations visited 86 custodial centres across 23 states.

The report was necessitated following a probe in 2024 against cross-dresser Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky.(NAN