Wednesday November 12, 2025 | The House of Representatives has asked the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Nigerian Correctional Service to reactivate existing farm centres across the country and implement a policy to engage inmates serving in correctional centres in farming.
This followed a motion by Folorunsho Adegbesan on the need to engage inmates in Nigerian Correctional Centres in farming activities.
Adegbesan said in most African countries, the average diet provided in correctional centres contributes to malnutrition among inmates to the extent that many courts in Africa have expressed concern over the frequency, quantity, and quality of food served in correctional centres, deeming it cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.
According to him, approximately eleven (11) million people are currently being held in correctional centres across the world, with Nigeria accounting for about 84,741, comprising 82,821 males and 1,920 females.
He explained that correctional centres and other organisations around the world are creating and implementing sustainable food programmes to bring better nutrition to incarcerated people.
He said there are positive examples of how correctional centres have tried to deal with food insecurity in African countries, saying “in 2017, a prison in Mozambique produced one ton of potatoes, which were used in the prison and shared with other prisons.
“In Botswana, irrigation farming was introduced in 2025 to combat drought impacts on prison farms and ensure consistent prison food production, focusing on sorghum, cowpeas, lablab, and maize. In Tanzania, in 2024, environmentally friendly and cost-effective stoves designed to operate using alternative charcoal and minimal firewood were introduced in 126 prisons.
“In 2024, Mauritius introduced a fish processing plant at one of its prisons; Ghana Prisons Service equips inmates with modern cultivation skills to create agricultural activity in Ghana’s prisons and ensure that the standards of its prison system are consistent with internationally recognised norms and Namibia, Hydroponic systems have been utilised to improve food security in a female prison.
He maintained that inadequate access to sufficient food compromises the immune system and leads to nutritional deficiencies, weight loss, and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases.
He expressed concern that the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that food affects physical and mental health and is key to an inmate’s successful rehabilitation and resettlement upon release.
He said food sustainability in correctional centres can help inmates receive nutritious food, learn about sustainable agricultural practices, and obtain vocational training experiences that can help them integrate back into society and expressed the conviction that engaging inmates in farming will enhance food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture in Nigeria and beyond.
