FG empowers trained discharged inmates

The federal government has given out some working tools to some deserving discharged inmates that were trained in different vocations in the course of their incarceration in the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

The Controller-General, NCoS, Mr Haliru Nababa, made the presentations of the start-up materials and tools to the discharged inmates on Wednesday in Abuja.

Speaking during the presentation, Nababa said that After-Care Scheme was one of those programmes that enjoyed premium attention from the service.

He said that it was key to the realisation of one of the core mandates which was the reformation, rehabilitation and subsequent re-integration of inmates back to the society.

He also said that the idea of incarceration for punishment alone had become primitive and outdated hence the operational philosophy of the NCoS

This he said focused on assisting offenders re-order their priorities and appropriately deploy their resources.

According to him, in the present dispensation, there is a wide opportunity for every jail term to produce better individuals to be returned to the society as productive and responsible citizens.

“In a bit to revamp vocational skill acquisition across our custodial facilities, several workshops have been built. Those moribund resuscitated; farm centres supplied with tractors and other sophisticated agricultural machinery.

“Also, there is the establishment of three modern bakeries at Oko Custodial Centre in Benin as well as Dukpa and Kujama farm centres in FCT and Kaduna, respectively,” he said.

Nababa reiterated commitment to vigorously sustained the trend through value addition and continued collaboration with relevant stakeholders to churn out viable training regimes for inmates in education, agriculture and sundry vocations.

He called on all the beneficiaries to justify governments huge investments in providing these tools by working hard and being worthy ambassadors of the NCoS, never returning to the way of crime.

He appealed to the public to give the discharged inmates soft landing, by allowing them to fully reintegrated into the society.

“Stigmatising them has often driven them back to criminality thus making a travesty of our effort in putting offenders on the path of propriety

“Trade tools to be distributed are for tailoring, barbing, carpentry, welding, hairdressing and laundry.

“I believe the skills acquired by these discharged inmates and the tools they will receive today will usher them into a more qualitative phase of life as gainfully employed persons, or better still employers of labour,” he said.

One of the discharged inmates, name withheld appreciated the federal government for sustaining the tempo by given out aftercare materials to help ex-convicts to be better in life.

He urged people to shun criminal acts, saying that it added no value to one’s life.