TWO months after President Muhammadu Buhari passed a law that changed the name of the Nigerian Prisons Service to the Nigerian Correctional Services, The ICIR observes that the agency’s website does not reflect the name change.
On August 14, Buhari signed the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, which repealed the Prisons Act, addresses new issues, and provides for non-custodial measures in the country.
According to Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, one of the effects of the new law is to change the name of the agency in charge of prison operations to Nigerian Correctional Service.
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Two Kuje: Kidnapped civil defence officers, others freed after N5 million ransom paymentmonths after the president’s assent, however, the agency has still not updated information on its website in line with the government’s plan “to reflect the current thinking on rehabilitation and treatment of inmates”.
The phrase “Prisons Service” is used six times on the History of NPS page of the website (archived here). It is used three times on the Admin Structure page, and twice on the Roll of Honours and Mission pages.
The new name is not available anywhere on the website despite the fact that it was last updated on October 2, according to Whois Lookup.
The phone of the site registrant, Agi Edegi, was not available for calls and a text sent to her phone on Monday has not been replied as at the time of this report.
Meanwhile, the exterior of the Service’s headquarters now wears a new look as sanctioned by the law. The name of its Twitter account has also been updated but the information on its logo is out-of-date. A minibus donated to it by the Anambra State Government in October though branded “Nigeria Correctional Service” is also imprinted with the old logo.
A look through the proposed 2020 federal budget presented to the National Assembly last Tuesday shows that the name of the agency has been updated.
There is, however, no provision in the 2020 budget for the rebranding of offices, properties, and other materials.
'Kunle works with The ICIR as an investigative reporter and fact-checker. You can shoot him an email via aadebajo@icirnigeria.org or, if you're feeling particularly generous, follow him on Twitter @KunleBajo.