Niger miners’ deaths: Declare state of emergency on detention facilities – Akinlosotu tells Tinubu

A public affairs analyst and civil society advocate, Blessing Akinlosotu, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on detention and correctional facilities nationwide.

The call followed the deaths of 37 alleged illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Niger State.

Akinlosotu made the call in a statement on Wednesday following the release of the report of the committee set up to investigate the incident.

The committee, chaired by the Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Jonathan Kure, had disclosed that the miners died of suffocation while in custody.

Reacting, Akinlosotu, who is the Director of the National Civil Society Council of Nigeria, NCSCN, said the key takeaway from the report was that the condition of the detention facility in Minna was deplorable, unhealthy, inhumane, severely overcrowded and grossly unfit for human habitation.

He called for the full implementation of the committee’s recommendations and commensurate punishment for all those found culpable.

“The tragedy in Minna is not just about recklessness and negligence; rather, it is more about systemic underfunding. The NSCDC and other national security agencies appear overwhelmed by their enormous responsibilities.

“It will not be too much or out of place to declare a state of emergency on detention facilities and even correctional centres in Nigeria,” he said.