Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the minister of interior, said President Bola Tinubu’s administration is ready to bring succour to Nigerians, noting that the current administration is hell-bent to do “business unusual.”
Tunji-Ojo said this during his one-day working visit to Lagos on Monday. During the visit, the minister toured the different agencies under the interior ministry, including the Ikoyi Registry, the Lagos Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Ikoyi Passport Office, and the Ikoyi Correctional Centre.
Speaking with journalists at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre, the minister said the Tinubu administration, which assumed office a year ago, inherited a lot of issues, but not shying away from them.
Despite inherited issues, he said the president’s commitment to reform remains unwavering, emphasising that progress starts with a single step.
“I want to assure you that the government is hell-bent; the government is determined to do what we called “business unusual.
“We don’t want to do things in the usual way, we want to do things in the unusual way, change the narratives and bring succour to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He added that the current administration is tackling the issues one after the other and that Nigerians must realise that a problem of a hundred years cannot be solved in a single year.
Tunji-Ojo expressed a strong commitment to repositioning correctional centers across the country.
Rather than mere places of incarceration, he envisioned them as true correctional centres for offenders to undergo reform and transformation.
Tunji-Ojo also highlighted the importance of cultivating a culture of excellence within these centers.
He pointed out the historical context of some correctional centers, such as the one built in 1955, Keffi Correctional Center (1820), and Suleja (1914).
He said, “We want a real correctional centre, in actual deed, not a place that will be psychologically damaging. We want them (offenders) to come to correctional centres and be reformed.
“We think that the correction I mean, the change of name from prisons, which is a place of incarceration, you know, to correction, which is, which means in place of transformation should take it, it I mean effect, really.
“I always say, the president became president a year ago, he had returned to a lot of issues, a lot of problems. We’re not shying away from the problems.
“Nevertheless, Nigerians cannot expect a problem of 100 years to be sorted completely in one year. This correctional centre you see here was built in 1955. If I’m not wrong, you know, so know how long that is.
“Keffi Correctional Center was built in 1820. You know, you know how long that is? Suleja was built in 1914.”
When asked about the e-gates plan at the airport, Tunji-Ojo said the Abuja e-gate is ready and it will be soon be commissioned by the president.
“The Abuja eGates is good to go. I think the D wing is good to go. And we’re waiting, very soon, the President will commission it, and we’re good to go. We just want the president to be able to commission,” he said.
