The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has ordered prisons officers to shoot dead anybody who attempts to attack any correctional centre in the country.

This order was given in his visit to Agodi Custodial Centre, Ibadan today.

He stated that the officer must henceforth make it impossible for anyone to penetrate the facility because it is a red zone.

Aregbesola also stated that any attack on any correctional centre is an attack on the state and such must never be allowed again.

CEOAFRICA gathered that the minister said any attempt to attack correctional centres should be a suicide attempt and perpetrators must not be allowed to live to tell the story.

He said, “The most important thing is the security impregnability of this facility. Make this facility impregnable.

“It is a red zone, dangerous zone. Whoever attempts to breach the security here is already dead. He must not live to tell the story. Other people will tell his or her story.

“Any effort to breach our facility is not acceptable. Don’t shoot to injure, shoot to kill. Don’t shoot to disable, shoot to kill.

“This is a total embodiment of the state to guarantee the security of the people.

“We will do our best regarding your welfare to ensure effective service. I must commend your work for not recording any case of COVID-19 in your facility.

“But most importantly, you must be effective in preventing the penetration of this facility. You must have the capacity to repel viciously any attempt to penetrate this facility.”

Recently, Aregbesola confirmed the number of inmates of the Nigerian correctional centres have escaped and rearrested from those facilities between 2020 and 2021 alone following successful jailbreaks in Benin, Owerri, and Oyo, among others to 4,860 inmates

He gave these details at a recent Ministerial Press Briefing at the Aso Villa.