The Nigerian Correction Service (NCoS), on Sunday, could not state its efforts to recover the 281 prisoners who fled the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Maiduguri after Flood overtook the Borno State capital on Tuesday.

Abubakar Umar, the NCoS spokesperson, did not respond when FIJ asked him to explain the ongoing efforts to recover the inmates.

Umar only shared the NCoS’s press release to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

READ ALSO: Two Borno Flood Victims Die Scrambling for Food

The NCoS claims that the inmates escaped when they were being transferred. The purported transfer occurred when the flood brought down the prison walls.

The Borno flood has reportedly displaced more than 400,000 people, while sending 30 to their grave, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

FIJ had also earlier reported that, apart from the affected people, wildlife had been displaced within the Sanda Kyarimi Park located at Shehu Laminu Way in the Maiduguri.

FIJ contacted Umar on the phone but he only said he would forward a press release.

When FIJ asked about the exact efforts that the NCoS had made in recovering the absconded convicts, he did not respond.

READ ALSO: Instead of 250, Broken 110-Year-Old Suleja Prison Held 499 Inmates

In April, 118 inmates escaped the Medium Security Custodial Centres, Suleja, Niger State, overnight.

The NCoS blamed the prison break on a heavy downpour of rain rather than overcrowding or poor facilities.

Adamu Duza, the NCoS Federal Capital Territory Command’s spokesman, released a statement claiming the prison broke due to heavy rainfall.

Two days later, the Federal Ministry of Interior admitted that the prison held 499 instead of a maximum 250 inmates.