More than 100 inmates on the run after heavy rain destroys prison wall in Nigeria

The public has been asked to look out for the fleeing inmates

The walls of Suleja prison (Nigeria Correctional Service)

More than 100 inmates are on the loose after escaping a prison when heavy rain took down walls to the building.

Service agents were hunting the fugitives and had so far recaptured 10 of them with the help of other security agencies.

At least 118 inmates escaped in Suleja near the Nigerian capital on Wednesday night, a prison service spokesperson said.

The downpour, which last several hours, wrecked parts of the medium-security prison, including the perimeter wall and surrounding buildings, spokesperson Adamu Duza said in a statement on Thursday.

“We are in hot chase to recapture the rest,” Duza said.

He assured the public the authorities were on top of the situation.

“The public is further enjoined to look out for the fleeing inmates and report any suspicious movement to the nearest security agency,” he said.

Duza gave no details on the identities or affiliation of the escaped prisoners but in the past members of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgent group have been locked up in Suleja prison.

Screengrab from an October 2014 video shows the leader of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau (BOKO HARAM/AFP via Getty Images)

Prison breaks have become a major security concern in Nigeria where overcrowding, underfunding, and lax security measures have created conditions ripe for escape.

Thousands of inmates have escaped in recent years due to weak infrastructure and militant attacks, notably a July 2022 Islamic State attack on a high-security prison in the capital Abuja where around 440 inmates were freed.

“The Service is not unmindful of the fact that many of its facilities were built during the colonial era, and that they are old and weak,” Duza said.

He added that the service is making “frantic efforts” to modernize its prisons, including the construction of six 3,000-capacity facilities and the revamping of existing ones.

In April 2021 more than 1,800 inmates escaped from a Nigerian prison after it was attacked by gunmen.

The group of attackers used explosives to blast the administrative block of the facility and enter the prison yard in the southeastern city of Owerri.

Authorities claimed a banned separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was originally behind the attack.

A total of 18,444 prisoners escaped and 35 did not leave the prison while it was being assaulted.

The attackers arrived at the facility in the early hours. As well as carrying explosives, they were heavily armed with rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.