By Evelyn Usman
LAGOS — Minister of Interior, Mr Abba Moro, yesterday in Lagos, charged men and officers of Nigerian Prisons Service to live up to their constitutional responsibilities of securing the prisons and lives of those in their custody or resign, if they cannot cope with the current security challenges.

Boro spoke in Lagos against the back drop of the recent invasion of  Koton-Karfi Prison in Kogi State, where one of the warders was killed and inmates freed.

The occasion was the official commissioning of the second batch of Nigerian Prisons Service staff special car welfare scheme, where he reminded men and officers of the servce that they could not afford to fail the country at this point in time.

Describing the death of the warder as unfortunate and one of the hazards of the job, Moro said: “This is the price you have to pay if the country must survive. I don’t have to remind all of us that if we must give our lives so that Nigeria can survive, we should not hesitate because our lives can only have  meaning when Nigeria is there and we are Nigerians.

“I do not want you to see it as a threat because it is the duty you have signed for and, therefore, must live up to it. When you sign for a duty and you are unable to demonstrate capacity for fulfilling that duty, it is only honourable and human that you resign, otherwise there are going to  be appropriate sanctions because the importance of the service cannot be loss on all of us.

“Nigerians are going through some level of intimidations by a sectarian group, with crisis rocking the Nigerian society from all angles. Nigerians are living in fear everyday and you have all signed to secure Nigeria for Nigerians.

“So, if they are unable to secure Nigeria, it becomes a situation of hopelessness, where confusion reigns and we cannot allow this country to drift that way. It is important for you to live up to your expectation and do your duty, secure Nigeria for Nigerians or you resign from the duty you signed to do.”

“I am assured by  the Comptroller General of Nigerian  Prisons Service, Mr Zakari and the officers and men  of the Prison Service that the break  at Kota -Karfe is going to be the last in the series of break we have had in this country.”