The Federal Government's Independent Investigative Committee probing the deaths of detainees at a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) detention facility in Niger State has identified 33 victims, including children as young as 11 and 12 years old.
The committee, led by former Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services, Jonathan Kure, documented the identities of the deceased in a master register compiled during its investigation into the incident at the NSCDC command in Minna.
According to the report, the register contains details including the names and ages of the deceased, dates of arrest, detention records, identification information, post-mortem documentation and recorded causes of death.
Among the victims were 11-year-old Uzaifa Aliyu and two 12-year-olds, Abdulsalam Samaila and Mohammad Sani Nasir, making them the youngest detainees listed in the report.
The committee stated that the identities of the 33 deceased persons were established through arrest records, detention registers and witness testimonies. Records showed that all 33 individuals were held at the NSCDC Niger State Command and died between September 16 and 17, 2026.
While the committee's overall findings concluded that the detainees died from acute hypoxic respiratory failure, also known as environmental asphyxia, worsened by heat stress, dehydration and severe overcrowding in detention cells, individual records differed.
The report noted that environmental asphyxia was listed as the provisional cause of death in only three cases, while the causes of death for the remaining detainees were recorded as undetermined due to the absence of post-mortem examinations.
The three detainees whose records specifically cited environmental asphyxia were Emmanuel Emeka, Kabiru Suleiman and Idris Haruna. According to the committee, post-mortem examinations were carried out on the three victims on September 21, 2026, and their remains were still in the morgue at the time of documentation.
The other 30 victims had been buried, with their causes of death officially recorded as undetermined. The report has intensified concerns over detention conditions and accountability within custodial facilities, particularly after investigators linked the deaths to overcrowding, dehydration and inadequate ventilation.
The committee's findings are expected to guide further government actions and recommendations aimed at preventing similar tragedies in detention centres across the country.
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