By Romanus Udekwe Okue-Agbomma
An experienced crime reporter, Chief Chris Oji, has raised the alarm that Nigeria’s correctional facilities have become “breeding grounds for hardened criminals” rather than reform centres, urging the Federal Government to urgently sanitise and strengthen the criminal justice system.
“The Federal Government should look into our criminal justice system urgently, sanitise and strengthen it, so that it will serve to reform offenders into better human beings,” Chief Oji warned. “Why is it that when a petty criminal finishes serving his or her sentence in our correctional facilities, they become more hardened, formidable and notorious?”
In a Facebook post, he spoke against the backdrop of a disturbing case involving Samuel James, who recently completed a six-year sentence at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, Lagos, for petty robbery. James had been arrested for attempting a robbery armed only with an iron rod. But shortly after regaining freedom, he reportedly formed a formidable gang, acquired firearms, and embarked on high-profile robberies.
On 19 September 2025, he was again arrested after being captured on CCTV while robbing a former chairman of Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos. In the process, James allegedly carted away gold worth ₦40 million and still shot the victim in the leg.
When confronted, James confessed: “I spent six years in the correctional facility. But what is correctional about the place that is a jungle? We met people who hate society. I am a criminal, but we have many people who have not committed any crime, yet they are suffering for many years behind bars. Some have spent 12 years awaiting trial, while some have died of grief that they did not do anything to warrant their punishment.”
His account paints a grim picture of life behind bars. James lamented the absence of rehabilitation: “Nobody wants to remain a criminal. People come to preach to us to repent. I would have loved to repent, but when I was released after six years, what did the government or those religious groups who came to preach to us give me? Just small money for transportation. I had to start begging to feed myself. Hunger and rejection pushed me back to crime, and this time, I became more formidable because I didn’t want to be captured like a fowl. I am angry at the society that refuses to rehabilitate repentant criminals, except terrorists.”
Chief Oji recalled a similar case two years ago of another inmate who spent two years in Kirikiri for a crime he did not commit. Though eventually freed, the man received no rehabilitation, no compensation, and no support to restart life.
“Really, how does the government want people who regain their freedom from jail to start again after spending many years in custody?” Chief Oji asked. “I swear, our correctional facilities are breeding more hardened criminals and not correcting anything. Except the government looks into the issue of rehabilitation and compensation of inmates unjustly punished, it should revert to the former name, ‘prison’ and not ‘correctional centre’.”
The veteran reporter’s revelations add weight to mounting concerns that Nigeria’s criminal justice system is failing in its core duty to reform offenders, instead recycling them into even greater threats to society.
