Date: 2013-05-31

Kwara State House of Assembly on Tuesday resumed its six-week vacation with a call on the State governor, Alhaji AbdulFatah Ahmed, to expedite action on the procurement and installation of a transformer at Medium Security Prison, Mandalla, Asa Local Government Council of the state. Mandalla Medium Prison was constructed by the Federal Government to complement age-long Prison located at Okekura, Ilorin, built many ago, which is reportedly filled to capacity. Interestingly, the new prison has been in darkness for more than a year now.  State Controller of the prisons, Olarinle Bolanle in a Save Our Soul (SOS) letter to the legislature, lamented that the prisons officials have been operating with kerosene lanterns inthe nights, appealing to government to do something urgently to ameliorate the sufferings of his staff and inmates.

He blamed the non-availability of electricity at the prisons to faulty transformer to supply electricity to the area and surrounding villages. The controller hinted that the prison, which has 135 inmates, finds it difficult to carry out vocational activities for the inmates since the beginning of the blackout in January last year. This, he added, was occasioned by the damaged transformer for the past one year which was serving the prison and its environs, thus the need for its replacement.   He explained that the pathetic situation was brought to the knowledge of both the state government and the State House of Assembly without any positive response.

Bolanle maintained that the absence of electricity at the prison was a security risk, urging both the Federal and the state governments to come to the aid of the prison. "The essence of imprisonment is to reform and rehabilitate the inmates before integrating them back to the society. The aim is defeated with the current situation at the prison," he said. The controller further solicited the assistance of non-governmental organizations and agencies to complement government’s effort in prison reformation. Apparently responding to the plight of the prisons, the Speaker, Rasaq Atunwa following a resolution passed by the House after adopting the report of the House Committee on Works, Energy and Transport pleaded with the state government to install a transformer in the Medium Prison with a view to improving the condition of the prisoners and workers.

Atunwa while reading the resolution of the House on the matter, stressed the importance of electricity to the prison. In their contributions to the debate, Tope Olayonu (Balogun/Ojomu), Nimaota Ibrahim (Ilorin East) and Buka Sunoboro (Okuta/Yashikira) canvassed for immediate installation of a transformer in the area "because of the significance of electricity to the prison inmates and workers to carry out their duties."   The legislature, however, commended the efforts of the State Commissioner for Energy, Alhaji Tajudeen Zulu-Oloje towards providing a transformer for the Prison.