The Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) has sacked eight junior officers for various acts of indiscipline including smuggling of prohibited items into prison yards for inmates.
Spokesman of the NPS, Mr Francis Enobore, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
Enobore said the smuggled items included cell phones, marijuana and other intoxicating substances.
He said two of the culprits, identified as Thomas Jatau and Mottallem Yari, were dismissed for “trafficking in mobile phones”.
The rest, Mohammed Jibril, Saleh Dan’Azare, Umar Gusau, Mohammed Ja’Oji, Saidu Gusau and Maji Maiku, were involved in smuggling of marijuana and other prohibited items into the prison yards, he said.
Enoboro stated that their dismissal followed the approval of the recommendation of the NPS Zonal Disciplinary Committee by the Conptroller-General, Mr Jaáfaru Ahmed.
He said, “Illegal access to mobile phones and other communication gadgets by prisoners has been of great concern to the management of the Prisons Service.
“This is because various criminal activities have been perpetrated with them by inmates including facilitating jailbreaks and escapes.
“Similarly, apart from the far-reaching health implications of exposing inmates to the use of Indian hemp and other intoxicating substances, the act also compromises discipline and negates inmate reformation thrust of the NPS,” he said.
The spokesman conveyed the appreciation of the Controller-General to men and officers of the service as well as the general public for assisting the service with information on bad eggs in the system.