Following another prison break in Nigeria, the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has ordered all of its regional and sector commanders to impose strict measures at all points of entry and step up patrols.
The Kuje Maximum Security Prison in Abuja, Nigeria, saw a jailbreak on the evening of July 6; according to official accounts, at least 443 of the 879 prisoners who managed to escape are still at large.
According to a GIS statement released in Accra, the attack, which used high-tech explosives and rifles to liberate all 64 detainees at the jail who were related to Boko Haram and were still among the escapees, was likely planned by the extremist group Boko Haram.
It stated that given the sub-current region's movement patterns for Nigerians, it was expected that the majority of escapees would try to reach Ghana via both authorised and unauthorised routes.
It said that the strict precautions were put in place to stop and catch any escapees who would try to enter the nation.
Prison escapes in Nigeria
According to a BBC story, Nigeria continues to deal with a number of security issues, including kidnapping syndicates and an Islamist insurgency in the north-east.
It claimed that since 2020, around 5,000 prisoners had escaped via prison escapes in Nigeria.
More than 1,800 prisoners were released by gunmen who assaulted the Owerri police headquarters in southeast Nigeria, according to a BBC story from April of last year.
After unidentified gunmen raided a facility in Nigeria's Kogi state in September, 240 detainees managed to flee.
According to the BBC, angry over the situation, Nigeria's interior minister, Rauf Aregbesola, instructed prison guards to "shoot to kill" anyone responsible for jailbreaks in January of this year.
He said in a speech to prison employees in the southern city of Ibadan that anyone trying to violate security "shall not live to tell the tale." "Any attempt to enter our premises illegally is unacceptable. Instead of shooting to wound, aim to kill. Shoot for kill, not to cripple, "It is alleged that he stated.