The Presidency has announced an initiative that would see it training 500 inmates selected from each of the nation’s Custodial facilities as part of measures to enhance the reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration processes of inmates.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education, Abiola Arogundade, disclosed this at a media interface Wednesday in Abuja.
According to her, the scheme is part of the plans by the President Bola Tinubu administration to lift millions of Nigerians out of the 133 million people said to be living in poverty in the country.
She said beyond confinement, the training offers inmates personal and professional growth opportunities, including vocational training, saying this approach prepares inmates for post-incarceration life, investing in their future and societal well-being.
The presidential aide disclosed that the inmates would be trained in fashion designing, Information Technology, soap making, fashion, poultry, fishing, among others.
She said at moment, the focus would be on inmates who are closer to the end of their prison sentences.
Arogundade said; “We have also started training in the correctional centres. We launched the scheme in Kuje. We took a few members from my office to the correctional centre to do an audit of the needs of the inmates. I am happy to announce that we started conducting the assessments and auditing of the trainees.
“We are happy to also announce that we have secured it for every single person in training. At the end of their prison terms and our training, we give you N500,000 to set up your business so you don’t become a second-time offender at a correctional centre. This scheme is ongoing.
“So after Kuje Correctional Centre, we are moving to Suleja. We are going to try and duplicate this intervention in all our correctional centres across the country.”
When asked the number of inmates being targeted for training within 2024, Arogundade explained: “I will put it in each correctional center, we would like to train a minimum of 500 inmates. In Kuje now there are 723 of them but we will like to train a minimum of 500 and the reason is that we can not compel them to be trained. It is something that you want to do, not something like military.”
