Us Accuses Military, Police, Dss Of Rights Abuses, Says Money For Prisoners’ Meal Stolen By Officials

BEVERLY HILLS, April 14, (THEWILL) – The United States, U.S, has accused the Nigerian Armed Forces, Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services, DSS, of human rights abuses in their operations in different parts of Nigeria, even as it alleged that officials of the Nigeria Prisons Service, NPS, routinely extort money from inmates as fees for food, prison maintenance, and sometimes to secure their release from prison.

In a damming report on human rights abuses by security agencies in Nigeria tagged: 'Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015' authored by the United States Department of States, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Nigerian prison officials were also accused of raping female prisoners under their custody.

The report was contained in a document released on Thursday which focused essentially on human rights abuses by governments and agencies of governments across the world.

It claimed that only prisoners with money or support from their families had sufficient food as the officials routinely stole money provided for prisoners' food, while poor inmates often relied on handouts from others to survive. Amidst that, it added that officials, police, and other security personnel often denied inmates food and medical treatment to punish them or extort money from them.

Revealing that the condition of prisons and detention centres across Nigeria were harsh and life threatening, the U.S report alleged that prisoners and detainees, mostly awaiting trial, were reportedly subjected to extrajudicial execution, torture, gross overcrowding, food and water shortages, inadequate medical treatment, deliberate and incidental exposure to heat and sun, and infrastructure deficiencies that led to wholly inadequate sanitary conditions that could result in death.

“Authorities sometimes held female and male prisoners together, especially in rural areas. Prisons had no facilities to care for pregnant women or nursing mothers. Infants born to inmate mothers usually remained with the mother until weaned. Prison authorities often held juvenile suspects with adults. The government often detained suspected militants outside the formal prison system. It also revealed that Nigeria operated some unofficial military prisons including the Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno State, the Sector Alpha (aka “Guantanamo”) and Presidential Lodge (aka “the Guardroom”) facilities in Damaturu, Yobe State, among others,” the report noted.