Some one told me recently he thought life in a prison cell was better than living free in Nigeria. Here, life has become short and brutish. According to him, the restrictions placed on movement in the prison may be cited as the only reason why most Nigerians would not voluntarily walk into the facility and ask to be locked up. Prison inmates may have their own peculiar problems which free citizens may never understand but how do you understand a situation where a convicted felon who gets released wants to go back there by committing a crime at the prison gate to enable him “go in” again?
My friend says he knows why such a situation would occur. Every prison inmate is immune from the many worries presently killing Nigerians with high blood pressure. They all live in Government Houses and, therefore, do not have to worry about rent. Yes, every prison is built by government. Today in Nigeria, many citizens worry about how to find the money to pay rent, with many being thrown out of their apartments for inability to pay rent. Our customary and magistrates courts hear cases concerning unpaid rents and recovery of properties daily with attendant humiliation and disgrace. Who would not, therefore, like to live in free accommodation like prisoners do?
Accommodation is not the only facility prisoners get free of charge. They also get security free. All security agencies have a responsibility to ensure that all prisons across the country are secure, and except as may be peculiar to prison life, prisoners do not have to worry, like we free citizens do, about our safety. Our security worries have been compounded with the gorilla warfare being waged against us by boko haram. No one is immune from worry over the rampaging bombings going on in the North. Those in the south must also worry because no one knows when the phenomenon would climb down. Prisons appear to be immune except, of course, where attacks have been carried out with a view to freeing inmates. It is again that time of the year when the lazy folks want to hustle us out of our prized possessions in order to have a good yuletide. We have individually and collectively learnt to police ourselves. We nolonger sleep at night as we have become night watchmen all, taking turns to keep night watch over our families and property. The prison environment is watched round the clock by government security agencies while we are left at the mercy of marauders.
Prisoners are fed free. Who is it who would not like to be fed free? You might worry about the number of meals, size or taste of the food but at least, it is free. I do not think our prisons officials include nutritionists so we would not ask whether the meals are balanced or not. Afterall, how many of us free citizens can afford to adequately feed ourselves in Nigeria today? We eat just anything that comes our way. It is a matter of “man must wack” to stay alive. A national debate is presently raging concerning the provision of just one meal for our children in primary schools. While Nigeria is debating the feasibility or otherwise of the policy, our prisoners can take at least two meals daily for granted. They do not also have to provide water for themselves as we do. I understand a prisoner is allowed to bathe as many times a day as pleases him. See why many citizens would like to be prisoners?
Nigerians protest and complain daily about electricity supply. They wish the power providers would supply electricity, if not for 24 hours daily, at least for 18 hours. The present situation is such that many homes are left in darkness almost all day and night, a situation that does not obtain in the prisons. As part of the security measures put in place for the prisons is the provision of electricity round the clock as it obtains in Government Houses across the country. No prisoner has to worry about when next, for instance, the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (DEDC) would restore power supply to Oko Prison as free citizens often do. Once power supply goes out, the electricity generators take over with diesel fuel provided by government. In our very wicked environment, prison cells are usually denied electricity supply for fear that some prisoners may decide on electrocution as an easy way out of a long prison sentence. But it is doubtful if any prisoner would miss electricity knowing that the commodity is unavailable in the larger society outside the cell.
We also daily complain about our roads, how dilapidated and impassable they have become. While we spend at least one hour on a journey which would normally take twenty minutes, our motor mechanics (or engineers) and their ubiquitous parts suppliers are smiling to the banks and praying secretly for the situation to continue without remedy. Our roads may remain perpetually bad for all they care. For the prisoner, it is a situation of “wetin concern Arik Air with Ore bridge? Ore bridge can go to blazes, Arik Air can fly over”. Those serving term have no use for our bad roads. Those attending court are chauffeur driven all the time while the black maria (the prisoner’s official car) is repaired and maintained on his behalf by our government.
Several years ago, I had the privilege of accompanying government officials on a pre-commissioning inspection visit to Oko Prison in Benin City. As a medium security facility, it was designed and built to provide some limited amount of comfort for inmates. I have not visited again since it came into use but I can bet that as with the case of everthing Nigeria, it may well be a source of discomfort not only to inmates but also prison workers. If there is trully any Nigerian who would wish he were a prisoner I advise them to first imagine how prison inmates would have felt this yuletide.
BLESSING YAKUBU, PUBLIC AFFAIRS ANALYST, LIVES IN YENAGOA, BAYELSA STATE.
