Prison officers seek Comptroller-General’s suspension

Some officers of Nigeria Prison Service (NPS) have called for the suspension of Comptroller-General of Prisons Ahmed Jafaru for alleged abuse of office.

They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to order an immediate probe of Jafaru’s administration.The Nationreports that,the officials, who described themselves as “Aggrieved Prison Officers”, accused Comptroller-General of Prisons of diversion of funds to fixed deposit accounts, alteration of age and staff recruitment that did not follow due process.


The officers alleged that workers’ salaries became irregular after he allegedly moved funds into a fixed deposit account.

Jafaru was also accused of directing that part of staff salaries be paid through Nigerian Prison Micro-Finance Bank, which they said has offices only in Kaduna, Enugu and Ibadan.

The directive, according to them, meant prison workers had to travel long distances at huge risks to get their salaries.

The officers also accused the Comptroller-General of recruiting 2,000 warders without following due process, adding that there were plans to recruit 6,000 more.

“If he is not immediately called to order, it is the same process that he used for the illegal recruitment in 2015 that he will use again for the proposed recruitment,” they said.

According to them, efforts to get the Interior Minister to call Jafaru to order failed as “the minister gave us cold shoulders”.

They asked the Comptroller-General to release the staff nominal roll detailing senior officers’ positions and offices.

They claimed that in one nominal roll, Jafaru’s date of birth is stated as July 21, 1957, but in another nominal roll, it is July 21, 1959.

The officers also alleged there is high mortality rate in the prisons due what they described as sharp practices on award of “ration and gas contracts” and project executions.

But spokesman of the NPS, Francis Enobore, described issues raised in the petition as false and unfounded