Nigerian Correctional Service
About
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) is a government agency of Nigeria that operates the country's prisons. It is headquartered in Abuja and supervised by the Ministry of the Interior and the Civil Defence, Immigration, Prisons, Fire Service Board. The agency divides its work into Custodial Service and Non-custodial Service. Formerly known as the Nigerian Prison Service, its name was changed to the Nigerian Correctional Service after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Nigerian Correctional Service Act of 2019 into law. The Controller General is Haliru Nababa, appointed on 18 February 2021.
History
The origins of the modern correctional system in Nigeria date to 1861, when a Western-type prison was conceptually established following the declaration of Lagos as a colony. The Broad Street prison was established in Lagos in 1872, and by 1910 prisons existed in several other towns across the British protectorates. Early colonial prisons were poorly run and focused on containment and providing labour rather than reform. In 1934 Colonel V. L. Mabb was appointed Director of Prisons and began modernisation efforts, though he failed to create a unified national prison structure. His successor R. H. Dolan (1946-1955) introduced vocational training, prisoner classification, education programmes, a Prison Training School in Enugu in 1947, and new reformatories and an open prison, representing a high point in the service's evolution.
Key Facts
Established
1861
Headquarters
Abuja
Controller General
Haliru Nababa
Jurisdiction
Federal Ministry of Interior
Abbreviation
NCoS
Website
cdcfib.gov.ng/history-of-ncs