No Mpox case in Nigerian prisons – Official

The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has confirmed that there are no cases of Mpox in its 256 custodial centres across the country.

The Assistant Controller of Corrections (ACC) Service Public Relations Officer (SPRO), Abubakar Umar, made known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

NAN reports that Nigeria reported 48 mpox cases across 19 states and the FCT, with no deaths recorded, according to the NCDC.

On 27 August, Nigeria received 10,000 vaccine doses from the US government to control the outbreak.

While Nigeria has previously handled isolated cases of the virus, the current outbreak has escalated the situation, necessitating a more pressing and concerted response.

Mr Umar, however, attributed the Service’s success to the proactive measures taken to prevent the outbreak of diseases, including ensuring compliance with medical directives, robust sanitation systems, and adequate water supply.

He also disclosed that the service was also working in synergy with state governments and the Ministry of Health to prevent the outbreak of Mpox in all the custodial centres in Nigeria.

According to him, one of the things that cannot be taken away with the NCoS is the proactive steps taken to prevent the outbreak of any diseases in its custodial centres.

“One of the numerous steps is the health hygiene of the custodial centres which is by ensuring that all the necessary steps to adhere to compliance with directives from the medical personnel are taken seriously.

“Furthermore, we have a robust system where once we notice an outbreak outside, we take proactive steps so that we do not allow staff or inmates to come in contact with or close to those who are infected or maybe infected.

“But the most important thing that the service has actually activated over the years is the issue of preventive measures because we will ensure that sanitation and adequate water systems are provided within our custodial centres.

“This is because most of these diseases have to do with what we call issue of environment and contact of an infected person, and we have a robust record and good record judging from the past.

“We have never had such outbreak within our custodial centres and this will not be an exception as the NCoS Controller General, Haliru Nababa, has given his assurance,” he said.

Mr Umar said the changes evident at the NCoS were as a result of deliberate efforts of the President Bola Tinubu’s Administration to address the neglect of the past.

This, he said, was with improved budgetary provisions, infrastructure upgrade, improved logistics, staff and inmates’ welfare, among other considerations.

He assured that the service would maintain an infection-free regime in its custodial centres, adding that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and the NCoS CG, were doing everything necessary to see to it that the Mpox does not spread into custodial centres.

He said, “like I said earlier, we are doing so much that we ensure we never witness such in our custodial centres as a result of proactive measures taken by our service through the effective coordination of our medical personnel.

“This is to ensure that issue of sanitation is taken seriously within our custodial centres and also ensure water supply to our custodial centres is the one that will not bring danger to the inmates.

“This also includes the provision of necessary medical assistance to our both high profile custodial centres and even the ones that are not in danger of such Mpox. We are doing so much. No cases of Mpox in custodial centres.

“The Service has also embarked on the construction of three units of 3,000-cell high capacity custodial centres each in three geo-political zones in the country.

“These are located in Kano (North West), Karshi-Abuja (North-Central) and Bori Rivers State (South-South), in a bid to address the challenges being faced by the NCoS in accommodating inmates.

“We are in partnership with state governments, like the Ministry of Health in some of these states, to ensure that we work in synergy with them.

“This is to ensure we don’t have such outbreak because if such should happen, it will speak a lot within the community where our custodial centres are located,” he said.

(NAN)