FG to train and rehabilitate Correctional Centres’ Inmates

The Federal Government announced in March that it has commenced vocational training of inmates in the custodial facilities in the country. According to the

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Enterpreneurship Education, Abiodun Arogundade, the program has commenced on a pilot scale at the Kuje, Abuja Custodial Centre.

The program, she said, targets inmates who have some months left to complete their terms and the training period varies from six months to nine months. It is part of the strategy to empower about five million Nigerians annually with artisanal skills, she added.

Upon completion of the training, each beneficiary is to be issued a certificate and a grant of N500,000 to set up their business. In each correctional centre, 500 inmates will be accommodated in the scheme and trained in computer repairs, hair making, fish farming, soap making and poultry business.

The goal of the training is to equip the inmates with skills that will enable them reintegrate into society as responsible citizens and not become second-time offenders. This goal aligns with one of the objectives of Life Needs and Empowerment Initiative’s Prison Inmates Project.

Thus the organization is liaising with Nigerian Correctional Services authorities to be part of the program especially in view of the limited number of inmates in each centre that the Government’s intervention will capture. The plan is to seek to expand the scheme to accommodate some other interested inmates not among the 500 in each centre in the Government’s plan.

The Nigerian Correctional Services has 253 custodial facilities in the country. They comprise 241 custodial centres, 85 satellite custodial centres, 15 farm centres, two open custodial centres as well as institutions and training schools.