Due to a breakdown of vehicles, the Niger correctional facility is using tricycles to transport inmates to court.
An investigation conducted by The Guardian has uncovered that inmates awaiting trial at the Minna Old Custodial Centre are being transported to court using tricycles, known as Keke NAPEP, and commercial vehicles due to a shortage of operational green Black Maria vehicles.
It was found that the only two working green Black Maria vehicles have been out of service for the last two years without any repairs.
Furthermore, the Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, bought four tyres for the sole functioning water tanker at the Minna Old Medium Security Custodial Centre in March 2026.
Sources indicated that the tanker had not been operational for three years and was supported by stones because it lacked tyres.
Consequently, inmates had to collect water from public boreholes in Minna until the Chief Judge provided the tyres.
However, the only working borehole in the Medium Security Custodial Centre ran dry around the same time the tanker lost its tyres.
As a result, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) in Niger State parked the vehicle, leading to the use of tricycles and other methods to transport inmates to court.
Further findings revealed that former Niger State governor, now Senator Abubakar Sani Bello, had purchased two green Black Maria vehicles for correctional centres in 2016.
Investigations showed that the now non-functional vehicle had been the only means of transporting awaiting-trial inmates to over 35 courts within and outside Minna, the state capital.
“We are in a serious predicament since the green maria has been parked. We have to find alternative means to transport them to court within Minna.
In fact, we have no choice. They must appear in court, and we have to seek any alternative means to get them there.
Sometimes we have to hire tricycle operators to take them to court,” a source close to one of the facilities in Minna, who wished to remain anonymous, stated.
It was also reported that inmates are now being taken to court using the only available official ambulance, which is typically used for transporting patients to hospitals, instead of the green Black Maria vehicles.
The spokesperson for the Niger State Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Rabiu Shuaibu Mohammed, confirmed the situation and urged individuals and corporate organizations in the state to donate functional green Black Maria vehicles to ensure the safe transportation of inmates to court.
