Overcrowding, Poor Ventilation Killed 33 Suspects In NSCDC Custody – FG Panel

The ministerial committee set up to investigate the deaths of suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State, has found that the 33 victims died of suffocation in an overcrowded cell.

Naija News reports that the panel submitted its report to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, in Abuja on Tuesday.

Presenting the report, the committee chairman, Jonathan Kure, said available medical and forensic evidence ruled out any disease outbreak as the cause of death.

Rather, the panel found that the detainees died of environmental asphyxia, a form of acute respiratory failure caused by being kept for too long in a crowded cell with poor ventilation, made worse by heat and dehydration.

The committee held NSCDC officials responsible for failing in their duty of care to the detainees.

“The committee concluded that the incident was a preventable custodial tragedy caused by severe overcrowding, unlawful and unsuitable detention conditions, failure of duty of care, disregard of repeated distress warnings, inadequate supervision, and wider systemic deficiencies,” the executive summary read.

The report also revealed that the NSCDC conducted the operation in which the suspects were arrested without any operational order or approval from its national headquarters.

The panel said the deaths followed enforcement activities against suspected illegal mining in and around Minna.

According to Kure, the committee took evidence from the NSCDC leadership, field officers, cell guards, health workers, survivors, families of the deceased, community representatives and cemetery officials.

It also reviewed arrest and detention registers, communication records, duty rosters, hospital and mortuary records, autopsy reports and burial documents.

The panel said 29 of the 41 survivors, nine of them minors, were interviewed.

“Evidence from multiple independent sources was analysed and cross-checked to reconstruct events and determine responsibility,” the report stated.