Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu on Friday visited Nigerian Correctional Service Medial Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, Abuja with a promise to build new cell to decongest the detention facility in 2022.

“By 2022, we will commence the building of a new cell to decongest the already congested prison.

“I thank the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service for his commitment and great improvement in the correctional center”, Sen. Kalu said in a Facebook post on Friday.

Recall that the Abia North Senator had spent 6 months at the facility over allegations that bordered on misappropriation of funds as governor of Abia State.

Sen. Kalu also recalled how his intervention helped in securing freedom for about 100 inmates.

He further noted that the solar power system he donated shortly after he was released has helped in ensuring constant power supply at the facility.

He posted, “As part of my covenant with God to encourage and support the mental wellbeing of those in detention, I have been visiting and spending time with them and today is one of those days.

“Since I became an adult and as long as I can remember, there have been two occasions I wept and couldn’t hold back. The first was the day Igbos were deported from Lagos to Onitsha. After my reaction to the unceremonious event, I questioned the humanity in this country and the embarrassment attached. I never foresaw that such could ever happen in my lifetime.

“The second was when I was at the Nigerian Correctional Service Medial Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, Abuja. Somehow, one young man (names withheld) approached me and sought an audience which I granted. He told me a pathetic story of how he found himself in prison. He is the only child of his parents and his father was also imprisoned. That night, I prayed and thanked God for encountering him. I didn’t need anyone to tell me it was a set up for his family. After my intervention by engaging the services of a lawyer, himself and his father were freed. May God bless him.

“With God’s grace , I was able to secure the release of not less than 100 inmates who were in detention because they couldn’t afford a lawyer or bail. My stay in Kuje actually gave me an opportunity to see the deepest and lowest ebb of the downtrodden. While many in detention are guilty of one crime or the other, there are several others who are languishing in detention because they could not fulfill the requirements of the law to be freed. They just needed little intervention and I am grateful to God for using me. However, I also noticed there are a few who do not want to leave the prison. For reasons best known to them , they feel much more comfortable spending their entire lives in prison . It’s a deep world .

“As I visited the Nigerian Correctional Service Medial Security Custodial Centre, Kuje today in compliments of the season, I ate, drank and shared jokes with a few. Among other interventions in the Nigerian Correctional Service Medial Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, I am very happy that the solar power project I sponsored has helped the prison with 24 hour power supply.”

The Governor of Abia State, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu has approved the immediate removal from office of Mr. Eze Okwulehie, General Manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), Umuahia, Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Chris Ezem said in a statement on Friday.

This is with immediate effect.

No reason was however given for his removal from office.

The Governor further directs the Secretary to Abia State Government, Barr. Chris Ezem to oversee the activities of the Agency in the interim.

This may however not be unconnected with growing heaps of refuse that has defaced the atmosphere in major cities of Abia, particularly Aba and Umuahia.

Abia State House of Assembly had earlier in the week lamented the poor sanitation in the city centers on the account of poor management of waste.

Details later.