EXCLUSIVE: Inside NSCDC’s Niger cell where 14 children, 19 other detainees died

About 50 men and boys were confined in a cell measuring roughly 12 square metres at the Niger State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State. Thirty-three of the detainees died in custody between 16 and 17 September 2026, a federal investigation has found.

PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier on Friday that the committee found that 14 of the 33 deceased persons were minors. They also included persons displaced from their communities by bandits.

The cell had a solid metal door, poor ventilation, no running water and no functioning toilet. Food and drinking water were either unavailable or grossly inadequate, according to the investigation committee.

The Jonathan Kure-led 10-member committee’s final report, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, described the detention conditions as cruel, inhuman and degrading, and concluded that the deaths were foreseeable and preventable.

The report was submitted to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on 27 October.

Investigators inspected the detention facility in Chanchaga, Minna, on 25 September, taking measurements, photographs and video recordings and preparing a floor plan.

The committee estimated that about 50 detainees occupied the male cell, roughly five times the maximum occupancy of 10 it considered appropriate.

Survivors described extreme heat and dehydration. They could barely move in the crowded cell, and some collapsed as conditions worsened, according to the report.

The cell also had poor lighting. Children were held alongside adults, which the committee found breached child-protection requirements.

Female detainees were temporarily moved elsewhere because of overcrowding but were subsequently returned.

The committee also found that detainees in the male cell drank their own urine or sweat because they had no access to drinking water.

The probe panel also said it found that officers responsible for the cells failed to reduce the overcrowding, “ignored prolonged cries and banging of the cell door and wall and did not provide emergency help.”

The detentions followed NSCDC raids on suspected illegal mining sites in and around Minna on 15 and 16 September, after complaints from residents around the M.I. Wushishi area.

The panel confirmed that the mining sites were licensed to Ozams Consult and Services Ltd and Prixair Resources Ltd.

However, the operations proceeded without an approved operational order, adequate planning or consultation with the relevant mining authorities. The specialised Mining Marshals Unit was not involved, and NSCDC National Headquarters had not been informed beforehand.

Men, women and children were arrested. By the evening of 16 September, 75 people had been detained. One was released, leaving 74 in custody overnight, about 50 of them in the male cell.

The committee confirmed 33 deaths and identified 41 survivors. Fourteen of those who died were children.

Some detainees were internally displaced persons who had turned to artisanal mining to survive, the report found.

One victim, Emmanuel Emeka, 25, had been held since 12 September over a private debt complaint unrelated to mining. The panel found his detention unlawful.

Other detainees had been held beyond the permitted period without a court order or remand warrant.

The command’s legal officer had raised concerns about the detention of children and advised that the suspected mining offence was bailable. His advice was ignored, according to the report.

The committee found that the duration and conditions of detention breached constitutional safeguards, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and child-protection requirements.

On the evening of 16 September, Mariam Etang Nelson, a nurse attached to the command, warned cell guards that overcrowding could cause suffocation. She advised leaving the metal door unlocked to improve ventilation.

The warning was ignored, the committee found.

Evidence from survivors and officers indicated that signs of distress began shortly after 7 p.m. Detainees shouted for help, banged on the door and walls, and pleaded for water.

A female detainee, Alheri Dauda, recalled hearing cries and banging from the men’s cell from about 8 p.m.

Two armoury guards told investigators that between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. they urged the officer on duty to open the cell after hearing screaming and banging. He refused, citing instructions not to open it without armed backup. A telephone call to his superior went unanswered.

The guards said the screaming stopped at about 2.30 a.m. Ms Dauda placed the end of the disturbance at approximately 2 a.m.

Neither account established the precise time of death.

The cell was opened the following morning. The committee found that officers had failed to reduce overcrowding or arrange an adequate emergency response.

Investigators interviewed 29 survivors, including nine children. Six survivors received treatment at General Hospital Minna and were subsequently discharged. Hospital records confirmed that 33 bodies were brought in dead.

Post-mortem examinations were conducted on only three bodies. The remaining 30 had been buried before the medical team arrived.

The medical findings were most consistent with respiratory failure caused by a lack of oxygen in the overcrowded cell, described in the report as environmental asphyxia. Heat stress and dehydration were identified as probable contributing factors.

The report states that the individual causes of death of the 30 unexamined victims could not be determined medically. Their shared detention conditions and the timing of the deaths suggested the same mechanism as in the three examined cases.

The medical conclusions remained provisional pending toxicology results.

The panel found no evidence supporting a disease outbreak as the cause of the deaths.

Some survivors alleged that an aerosol substance had been sprayed into the cell, but the committee considered the allegation unproven and improbable on the available evidence.

The medical section separately recorded eye and throat irritation. Toxicology results were outstanding when the report was submitted.

Eight survivors reported being beaten during arrest. The committee distinguished those allegations from its medical assessment, which did not identify physical assault as the immediate cause of death.

Before independent forensic inspection, the detention cells had been scrubbed, washed and disinfected.

Additional ventilation openings had been introduced, other alterations made and numbers painted above the cell doors.

Investigators documented the changes by comparing the facility with earlier images taken by first responders. The panel found that the cleaning and alterations interfered with physical evidence and limited aspects of the forensic assessment.

The detention register for 16 September, when most of the suspects were taken into custody, was also unavailable to investigators.

The missing register and changes to the cells meant investigators could neither examine the detention area in its original condition nor consult a complete detention record for the day preceding the discovery of the deaths.

Nevertheless, the committee concluded that the overcrowding, inadequate ventilation and failure to respond to repeated warnings had made the deaths preventable.