A little over 62,260 people that makeup Nigeria’s prison population would now earn up to N1000 for daily feeding allowance, according to a senate committee’s new decision.

The Senate Committee on Interior recently agreed to increase the daily feeding cost of prisoners per day from N450 to N1,000, as proposed in the 2022 budget.

The increase in feeding allowance was initially moved to N750 but Committee Chairman, Senator Kashim Shettima (APC Borno Central) and other members agreed on beefing the amount to N1000 per day, categorically leveraging on the declining value of the Nigerian Naira and increase in costs of food items in the country.

“Mr Chairman, I will urge this committee to jerk up the proposed N750 feeding cost per day on each of the inmates at the custodian centres to at least N1,000.00 because no grown-up Nigeria today can survive with N750 per day as far as feeding is concerned,” Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP Enugu North) pleaded at the meeting.

Seconding the motion, Senator Betty Apiafi (PDP Rivers West), said the proposed N1,000 should be the minimum and must be reflected in the final budget to be passed for the correctional service. The Chairman of the committee accordingly ruled in favour of the motion.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Shuaibu Ibrahim, has called for an increase in the feeding allowance of corps members.

According to Ibrahim, corp members are served food worth N216 per day while inmates of correctional facilities would now earn N1000.