Prisoners across the country may be thrown into hunger from December, if urgent care is not
taken to settle the outstanding bills of food contractors.
The contractors, under the aegis of Nigeria Prison
Service Ration and Gas Contractors, have already
made their intention to stop supplying food and gas
to prisons from December known in a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari.
A copy of the letter dated November 13 and sighted by our correspondent on Sunday was jointly signed
by the association’s President, Chief S. K Sanni;
National Secretary, Mr. Eugene Agro; and the
National Vice President (North West), Alhaji Ibrahim
A. Asarakawa.
The Minister of Interior; and the Comptroller-
General of Prisons among other top government
officials were copied.
The contractors informed Buhari that the Federal
Government’s indebtedness to them currently stands at N6bn.
They said with the outstanding bill, they no longer
have the financial capacity to source for food and gas that they can supply prisons.
They therefore appealed to the President and the minister in charge of prisons to intervene in the matter by ensuring that the backlog is cleared.
They made it clear that if the debt was not paid by
the end of this month, they might not be able to supply food items and gas in December as they have exhausted not only their financial resources but also
the sources where they have been getting the money for business.
The contractors stated that they have not been paid for the supply of food items and gas to the prisons
since January this year.
The situation, they added, forced them to resort to
taking bank loans with all the accumulative interests,
even as some of them sold their houses and other
properties in order to meet up.
In the years past, the contractors said Federal
Government used to pay them two weeks ahead of
time.
They wondered why the system changed to the extent that they were the ones using their money to
buy the food items and gas for the prisons before
they were reimbursed.
They urged the President to act fast in order to forestall stoppage of food to prisons, a situation
which they said posed great danger to the fragile
security of the country.
The contractors advised Buhari to mobilise funds
from any source to settle them in order to forestall
the national embarrassment that hunger in prisons
could cause his government which has security as one
of its priorities.
The letter read in part, “Needless to say that if
prisoners and inmates of the nation’s prisons are not
fed for two days, they could go haywire and the
consequences are not good to imagine.
“We do not want any national embarrassment for Mr.
President and his new government.
“We are therefore appealing to the Commander-In-
Chief to mobilise funds from anywhere to settle our
bill before it is too late, knowing that top on his
priority is security.
“We have endured long enough.
taken to settle the outstanding bills of food contractors.
The contractors, under the aegis of Nigeria Prison
Service Ration and Gas Contractors, have already
made their intention to stop supplying food and gas
to prisons from December known in a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari.
A copy of the letter dated November 13 and sighted by our correspondent on Sunday was jointly signed
by the association’s President, Chief S. K Sanni;
National Secretary, Mr. Eugene Agro; and the
National Vice President (North West), Alhaji Ibrahim
A. Asarakawa.
The Minister of Interior; and the Comptroller-
General of Prisons among other top government
officials were copied.
The contractors informed Buhari that the Federal
Government’s indebtedness to them currently stands at N6bn.
They said with the outstanding bill, they no longer
have the financial capacity to source for food and gas that they can supply prisons.
They therefore appealed to the President and the minister in charge of prisons to intervene in the matter by ensuring that the backlog is cleared.
They made it clear that if the debt was not paid by
the end of this month, they might not be able to supply food items and gas in December as they have exhausted not only their financial resources but also
the sources where they have been getting the money for business.
The contractors stated that they have not been paid for the supply of food items and gas to the prisons
since January this year.
The situation, they added, forced them to resort to
taking bank loans with all the accumulative interests,
even as some of them sold their houses and other
properties in order to meet up.
In the years past, the contractors said Federal
Government used to pay them two weeks ahead of
time.
They wondered why the system changed to the extent that they were the ones using their money to
buy the food items and gas for the prisons before
they were reimbursed.
They urged the President to act fast in order to forestall stoppage of food to prisons, a situation
which they said posed great danger to the fragile
security of the country.
The contractors advised Buhari to mobilise funds
from any source to settle them in order to forestall
the national embarrassment that hunger in prisons
could cause his government which has security as one
of its priorities.
The letter read in part, “Needless to say that if
prisoners and inmates of the nation’s prisons are not
fed for two days, they could go haywire and the
consequences are not good to imagine.
“We do not want any national embarrassment for Mr.
President and his new government.
“We are therefore appealing to the Commander-In-
Chief to mobilise funds from anywhere to settle our
bill before it is too late, knowing that top on his
priority is security.
“We have endured long enough.
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