Senior Advocate of Nigeria Olisa Agbakoba has made the striking claim that federal prisons houses only Nnamdi Kanu, the proscribed IPOB group leader. He questioned the rationale behind maintaining a costly federal prison system.
During a Channels TV interview from 26:42, Agbakoba scrutinized prison budget allocations: “Have you ever taken a look at the budget of the prisons? Nigeria runs a federal prison system to the exclusion of the states, and they are spending between 11 to 15 billion every year to maintain the prison service. But they have no prisoners. The Federal Prison has no prisoners; they have got only one, and that is Nnamdi Kanu.”
Agbakoba used this claim to challenge broader federal overreach: “So, if you have got no prisoners, why run prisons? Why don’t you simply allocate it to the states? Why are you keeping prisoners when you don’t have prisoners?”
He expanded his critique to other centralized functions: “Why do you issue driver’s licenses when that is not your business? That is the business of the state. You have the marriage registry. What is the federal government’s duty in registering my marriage? Is that not a local government function?”
The senior lawyer lamented the disempowerment of local authorities: “Why are the local governments deprived of governmental things to do, and you keep them unbusy? So, you pack all the power to the center.”
Agbakoba also highlighted policing as a critical example of problematic centralization: “You have only one IG. How can you have just one IG of police in a country and think that it will be free of crime? That’s the problem. So, we have to distribute power and include more people.”
On Nigeria’s longstanding restructuring debate, Agbakoba identified leadership entrenchment as the primary obstacle to progress. He argued that Nigerian leaders’ reluctance to implement meaningful reforms stems from their “hold power syndrome” that makes them resistant to systemic changes.
Drawing a stark international comparison, Agbakoba recalled how the United Arab Emirates once sought financial assistance from Nigeria in 1975. He noted with evident disappointment how dramatically fortunes have reversed, with the UAE now enjoying significantly greater economic prosperity than Nigeria.
