An investigation has revealed that the Minna Old Custodial Centre in Niger State now uses tricycles and commercial vehicles to transport inmates to court because its official “Black Maria” vans have been broken down for two years.
Inmates awaiting trial at the Minna Old Custodial Centre in Niger State are currently being transported to court sessions in tricycles, popularly known as Keke NAPEP, and commercial vehicles following the total collapse of the facility’s logistics fleet. A report by The Guardian revealed that the only two operational “Black Maria” vehicles, which were originally donated by former Governor Abubakar Sani Bello in 2016, have remained broken down for the past two years without repair. This failure has left officials with no choice but to rely on unsecured public transportation to move defendants to more than 35 different courts within and outside the state capital.
Beyond the transportation crisis, the custodial centres are also grappling with a severe lack of basic amenities, prompting a rare intervention from the judicial arm of government. In March 2026, the Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, was forced to purchase four tyres for the only water tanker at the Minna Old Medium Security Custodial Centre. Prior to this intervention, the tanker had been propped up on stones for three years, forcing inmates to fetch water from public boreholes after the facility’s own borehole dried up. The lack of functional equipment has essentially grounded official operations, leading to makeshift arrangements for critical state functions.
Sources within the facility, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described the situation as a “serious mess” that compromises both the dignity and security of the inmates. They noted that the grounded vehicles have created an unsustainable burden on the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) in the state. “We are in a serious mess since the green maria parked up. We have to convey them to court with alternative means of transporting the inmates to courts within Minna,” the source said. “In fact, we have no option. They have to be in court and we have to find any alternative means of conveying them to court. At times we have to engage the service of tricycle operators to convey them to court.”
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