A Nigerian would have thought that a highly industrialised country such as Japan, with the world’s third largest economy, its name synonymous with technology and innovation, that produces the most cars, electronics and bullet trains, with glitzy shopping centers, with skyscrapers lining up the Tokyo and Yokohama skylines, is the last place on Earth where anyone would prefer to be in prison rather than stay at home.
But that was exactly what a CNN report at the weekend portrayed. A similar report is also to be found in several Western and Asian news sites. The CNN reporter who visited Tochigi Women’s Prison, Japan’s largest women’s prison, stated, “The rooms are filled with elderly residents, their hands wrinkled and backs bent. They shuffle slowly down the corridors, some using walkers. Workers help them bathe, eat, walk and take their medication. But this isn’t a nursing home – it’s Japan’s largest women’s prison.”
Is Japanese criminal justice system so cruel that it sends to prison women so old that they shuffle along using walkers, cannot even eat or bathe without help, and their diapers have to be changed for them? The explanation gets more curious; many of them schemed to get themselves in prison in order to avoid staying at home, where they have no one to care for them.
That there are so many elderly people in Japanese prisons is, on the face of it, not surprising since the country’s population is aging fast and elders form an unusually high percentage of the population. But that is not the only problem. Japan has one of the world’s highest life expectancies, but it also has one of the world’s lowest birth rates. It is a double whammo, if you ask a Nigerian; the elders are living very long lives but far fewer children are coming up to replace them. So, who will take care of grandparents and even great grandparents, when the diminishing proportion of youngsters are busy trying to live their own lives?
One of the inmates told the CNN reporter that, “Some people do bad things on purpose and get caught so that they can come to prison again.” The most common offence is shoplifting. While some of the elders steal from the shops in order to get something to eat, a high percentage of them shoplift in order to get caught and be sent to prison. Why because, in prison, “they get regular meals, free healthcare and eldercare, along with the companionship they lack on the outside.” A prison guard said, “There are people who come here because it’s cold, or because they’re hungry. Those who fall ill can get free medical treatment while they are in prison, but once they leave, they have to pay for it themselves, so some people want to stay here as long as possible.”
No wonder, the prison is only lightly guarded, with only one gate. Since no one is trying to escape, there is no need to erect high walls, barbed-wire fences or station guard dogs, not to mention armed prison guards. Why is it that in Nigeria, we have Medium Security Prisons such as Kuje and Ikoyi and also Maximum Security Prisons such as Kirikiri, and we spend billions to keep the inmates inside? Is it because life outside the prison in Nigeria, despite all the complaints about insecurity and high living costs, is more comfortable than life in many Japanese homes?
Japanese invented many things in their very long history but in actual fact, they did not invent this system of preferring to live in prison. During our primary school days, we heard stories of a woman in Birnin Kebbi who was so poor and lonely, she would enter the market in broad daylight, make sure that a Dan Doka [Native Authority policeman] was watching, then she will grab something from a stall. She will be apprehended, hauled before a judge and sent to prison, where she had a mat to sleep on and food to eat. The Alkali [judge] soon realised that she was committing the crimes on purpose. Since his hands were tied by the law, he had to jail her but he only gave her light sentences. She was unhappy when, after only a few days or weeks, wardens went up to her and told her that she was being discharged. On her way out she always told the wardens, “Keep my mat for me! Don’t give it to anyone! I will soon be back!” Now the Japanese have arrived at that level.
Maybe with some difference, though. While some of the Jap prisonphiles did say they engaged in shoplifting because they had no money to buy food, far too many were there in order to avoid loneliness because they had no one to care for them at home. Loneliness is assuming epidemic proportions in developed countries. Some years ago, I watched a BBC Television documentary about the fading role of the Post Office in France. It sounded all too familiar because here too, in the last two or three decades, Nigeria Postal Service [popularly called the Post Office] which was once so central to communications among Nigerians has faded away with the serial coming, in that order, of courier delivery firms, fax machines, e-mails, mobile phones and social media chat forums.
In the BBC documentary, there was an elderly woman who was living in a small village in France. Her only daughter was living in Paris, and every other day, she will post a letter to her mum. The postal clerk will go to the house, knock at the door, the elderly mum will roll her wheelchair and open the door, collect the letter and invite the postman inside for a cup of tea and a chat. It turned out that that was the real reason for posting the letter, because the postman was the only person who ever knocked at her door and got to chat with her!
How do the problems of Japan and France square up with ours? They have long life expectancies but here, our life expectancies are not nearly enough. They have very low birth rates but here, we have very high birth rates. Their towns are full of old people but here, our streets are teeming with children and youngsters. While they are looking for youngsters and children to assist their elders, here we are looking for elders to provide some guidance to our youngsters, who are even chanting that they are “Not Too Young To Rule.”
Loneliness is a growing problem in Japan and France. In Nigeria here, our problem is overcrowding and too much noise. In Abuja city centre, where most homes are two or three-bedroom flats, they are overflowing with squatters. Every youngster from our towns has a sister or auntie in Abuja that he wants to visit or spend the holidays with. In our towns and rural areas, the African extended family system ensures that almost every home is overflowing with people, eating from the same pot. Babies are being born every day, so grandmothers have their hands full washing faeces, shouting at toddlers, sweeping dirt, telling old tales, settling quarrels, enforcing old customs and endlessly preaching to brides to exercise patience in their husbands’ homes. Which loneliness are you talking about again?
In any case, tough though living conditions in Nigeria are today due to inflation and epileptic services, the prisons [or what we euphemistically call correctional centers] are far worse. Twenty years ago during a US tour, we were taken to visit a prison in Pennsylvania. It looked to me like a Three-Star hotel; the rules called for changing inmates’ bedsheets and towels every day and changing their under wears every other day. In contrast, I once entered a prison in Sokoto to bail an inmate. He told me that the small loaf of bread I sent to him earlier that day, when he left it on the desk to go and wash his hands, someone grabbed and ate it!
There was this clamour by some NGOs recently for the National Assembly to increase the daily food ration of prisoners. Assuming that if we do so, corruption will allow better food to get to the inmates, are we sure we will not create a situation where some hungry citizens might begin to prefer going to prison in order to have three square meals a day? Anyway, to everyone, his own problems. Right now we are not suffering from loneliness, but increasingly tough living conditions are stretching the African extended family system to breaking point. Who wants to have one hundred relatives, what young Nigerians call “my cousin brother” and “cousin sister,” when feeding the nuclear family alone, paying for school fees and medical bills is a big challenge? O Japan, here we come to meet you by another route.
Letter from the German Ambassador
Sir,
I read your editorial “Rename White House to Black House” with keen interest, as I do with all of your articles. There was one statement that greatly irked me, however. You write: “Never mind all the other inflammatory things he [US President Trump] said during his press conference last week, […] threatening to cut off all support to Ukraine after the Western powers led by the US encouraged it into a war with Russia […].”
Though it is not the content matter of your editorial, it is important for me to set one thing straight: Russia attacked Ukraine. Russia attacked Ukraine. The attack was unprovoked, unjustified and illegal. Russian President Putin first annexed Ukrainian territories under his control, then sent soldiers and tanks and missiles across the border to attack, causing terrible suffering for both the people of Ukraine but also for his own population. There is no way of justifying this aggression.
Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, in his op-ed in Daily Trust newspaper (7 January 2025) states: “[…] we define our sovereignty in the context of certain, key principles: our right to self-determination, our right to defend our autonomy and secure our borders; and responsibility to respect our obligations under international law.” The same rights should be accorded to the people of Ukraine. Consistent with these principles, Nigeria has repeatedly voted in the United Nations General Assembly for condemning Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Claiming that Ukraine was encouraged into a war is a such a horrific distortion of facts that I cannot remain silent. Neither was Ukraine encouraged to do anything, nor did it actively enter into a war. Ukraine is a sovereign nation that was unilaterally attacked. Let me at this point once again make it very clear: If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. I would appreciate if this was understood when writing about international relations. Thank you.
Annett Günther
Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria and ECOWAS
Comment:
Frau Ambassador, I totally agree with you. Russia attacked Ukraine and gobbled up its territory.
