Meet ex-inmates who turned a new leaf

The lives of many people incarcerated in various correctional centres in Nigeria have changed for the better, Daily Trust Saturday reports.

There is a general notion that inmates in the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) custodial centres always come out worse and hardened after serving their terms or being acquitted and discharged as the case may be.

But this notion is not completely true as attested by some of them who agreed to open up when approached by our correspondents.

While there is no disputing the fact that Nigeria’s detention facilities are not how they should be considering that there are thousands of people kept there awaiting trial over minor or major offences, overcrowding, among others, some of the inmates, with the support of the government, get reformed and thereafter see their misfortune as a blessing.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that a number of the ex-inmates who were without any skill and education at the time of their incarceration are now back from their confinements better skilled and reformed and contributing positively to the development of the society.

Some of the ex-inmates spoken to described their prison experiences as a blessing in disguise, saying that while in prison they were able to achieve what they couldn’t have been able to actualise as free individuals.

‘I earn N150,000 monthly from shoemaking in Gombe’

Zakariya Mohammed Dankade, 27, a resident of Pantami in the Gombe metropolis, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment sometime in 2013 by a court over a rape case.

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Before his conviction and incarceration, Dankade had no skill, and with only primary and secondary school certificates, he spent most of the time roaming the streets with other jobless friends, a situation that dragged him to the unfortunate crime that took him to jail.

He told Daily Trust Saturday that when he was sent to prison he thought it was the end of his life.

“When I was first sent to the custodial centre, I felt so sad and hopeless because I thought it was the end of my life. In fact, for several days after my arrival, I was always thinking and frustrated about how I would spend six years in the custodial facility serving my sentence.

“One fateful day, the then deputy controller in charge of the facility, Mr Christopher Peter Jen, encouraged me to take one of the several vocational skills acquisition programmes in the facility,” he said.

Dankade added that the encounter with the controller completely changed his life for good.

“So, when he informed me, I immediately joined without hesitation. And praise to Allah that I joined. I started learning shoemaking, and after completing the training, I moved further to learn how to make bags. It took me just six weeks to learn bag and shoemaking.”

He started the business four years ago after serving a term at the Billiri Custodial Centre, where he spent six years.

According to him, the bag and shoemaking skills he acquired while serving his term at the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Billiri Local Government Area of Gombe was a blessing, saying his life is now meaningful as an ex-convict.

Dankade explained that the skill has empowered him to fend for his needs and those of his family as he makes between N3,000 and N5,000 daily selling shoes and bags, depending on the patronage.

According to him, the price of a pair of handmade shoes ranges from N2,000 to N3,000, “while the bags go for between N700 and N2,500, depending on their size and quality.”

The ex-convict added that he also made money from amending and redesigning shoes and made good savings from the trade.

He said, “I set up this business with the support of my family members, who were happy with the skills I acquired while in the custodial centre.

“After my release, I told my father that I had acquired skills while in prison, so he bought a sewing machine and other equipment for me to set up this shop.”

Dankade said he engaged 11 apprentices, who he is training in bag and shoemaking. Most of them are women, both single and married.

“I am also teaching other youths in a training centre operated by one woman in our area. I was introduced to them by the woman. I visit the centre to train them free of charge,” the shoemaker said.

He, however, said he faced stigma from members of the society when he was first released from the prison.

“When I was first released, some people used to come to my house just to look at me as an ex-convict, or people would be pointing in my direction whenever I was passing on the street.

“But I was never deterred by their behaviours towards me; I just took it in good faith that it was part of my destiny.  However, after I opened this shop, the same people started coming to the shop requesting me to train their children in shoemaking. But I accepted their children and have been teaching them free of charge because I didn’t pay a kobo to learn the trade too,” Dankade narrated.

Touched by the positive transformation of his life while serving his sentence, Dankade is now an advocate to youths on the need to shun social vices and embrace skills.

“An idle mind is a devil’s workshop. Most of the prison cases are robbery and rape. Those in prison were mostly influenced to engage in such vices by drugs. Parents must wake up to their responsibilities and train their children properly.”

Dankade said he wanted to further his education up to a degree level before he could settle down.

“I am also building my house and I want to complete it before getting married. Also, people should stop seeing prison as a place for just punishment but a place to get reformed. The government should also support skills acquisition training in prisons because you will find ex-convicts returning to prison. And after their release they find that they don’t have any business to do, so they easily go back to crime.

“The government should help small-scale business owners with equipment like sewing machines and other gadgets that will simplify their jobs. They have never received any assistance from the government,” he said.

‘I perfected my memorisation of the Qur’an, learned carpentry’

Abdullahi Ibrahim, who spent over a decade in prison in Kano, said he had become a better person.

“Let us get it right; it is horrible to go to prison. I don’t wish anyone to be there. But then, one should always look positive wherever he finds himself,” he said.

Ibrahim, 45, said he found himself in prison after a minor scuffle that turned soar.

“I don’t want to recollect the circumstances that took me there. Alhamdu Lillah, I am back on my feet. However, while in custody, I perfected my knowledge of the Quran, committed it to memory and also wrote it. I learned carpentry.    I am now married. Of course, life is not as rosy as one expects, but I am happy with the achievements I recorded,” he said.

I bagged a B.Sc, M.sc, wrote 7 books, 157 songs

Chinedu Eze’s journey to the prison was a sad one. He was indicted for a crime he never committed and was remanded in custody for 14 years before he was eventually acquitted and discharged in 2019.

However, Eze, who is from Enugu, told Daily Trust Saturday that going to prison was the best thing that happened to him as it provided him the opportunity to attain his goals in life.

“I was wrongly accused by the police for not cooperating with them to lie against someone. I never knew it was something that was going to take me to prison.

“They charged me to court that I conspired with a policeman to commit armed robbery and culpable homicide, a crime punishable through death by hanging if found guilty.

“That’s how I was taken to prison. I thought it could be a journey of one or two weeks and I would come back, but I was there for 14 years. We were taken to the prison in 2005, and at the end of the day, in May 2019, I was discharged and acquitted.

“The judge was disappointed when he got to know the truth about the matter and he said I should sue the police, but when I looked at my life and what happened to me while I was in prison, I said there was no need. I am not regretting going there.

“Before the scenario that took me to prison, I had no certificate, but when I got to prison, I started education afresh,” Eze said.

He was enrolled into a secondary school, where he earned eight distinctions and one credit.

He later got a scholarship to study Peace and Conflict Resolution at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN); after that, he bagged an M.Sc while in custody.

“So, when I look at everything, I said there was no need to sue the police because I achieved what I couldn’t achieve when I was outside.

“While there, I wrote seven books; they will be published anytime from now. The books will start coming out equally with about 157 gospel songs.

“As I came out, we were able to work on one of the albums containing seven tracks,” he said.

Apart from that, he got married after coming out of prison and now has a daughter.

“After I came out I got married and now have a child. I am living in my own house. I have my car parked down there. So, the lord has been faithful,” he added.

Eze is now the manager of Chify Rehabilitation Centre, Abuja, an organisation catering for the needs of inmates.

Another ex-inmate, Christian Picado, who spoke with Daily Trust Saturday in Abuja, spent four years in custody after being remanded at the Kuje Custodial Centre for murder in 2015. This was after spending four months in police custody.

While at the custodial centre, he enrolled at the NOUN, where he bagged a degree on Entrepreneurship and Business Management on scholarship.

“To the glory of God, as I was there, my case was still going on and I was studying until I went for final judgement and was set free. Even when I was free, I still went back and completed my B.Sc and came out in flying colours.

“While I was there, I also learned tailoring. I am a very good fashion designer now.

“I am working at Delux, a paint company, but I will soon start something on my own,” he said.

Picador, however, said it had not been easy trying to start all over again after leaving custody, adding that everything he had before being incarcerated had vanished when he returned four years later.

He said the church where he worships had been supportive, saying it provided an accommodation for him when he left custody.

“To be frank with you, I am still struggling to stand,” he said.

Another ex-inmate at the Kuje Custodial Centre, who was in custody for four years after being remanded for having drugs, has been making an impact since leaving custody in 2021.

Upon his return, he immediately opened a makeshift restaurant in Garki Area 11 in Abuja, where he serves his customers delicious meals.

His house is within the same vicinity provided for him by an inmate he met at the Kuje Custodial Centre.

The former inmate, who wouldn’t want his name in print, runs the restaurant with his wife.

He enrolled for an M.Sc in Administration and Planning at the NOUN while in custody and is now running his PhD programme.

‘Why I engage in rehabilitation of inmates’

Pastor Hillary Chukwuma Akpu, the regional overseer of Mountain of Fire Ministries and founder of Chifi Rehabilitation Centre, has been involved in the reformation of inmates since 2003.

He said his organisation had helped over 150 inmates to restart their lives after leaving the custodial centre.

He said grants depended on the trade an ex-inmate learned but not usually less than N100,000.

Pastor Akpu was drawn to the service of inmates following an experience he once had, saying, “I was almost a victim of what I didn’t plan for.”

He said some friends had invited him to join them in bunkering petroleum products but his wife advised him against it, adding that he eventually found out that they went for robbery operation.

According to him, some of them were killed while others were arrested during the operation.

“I didn’t know that they were going for robbery. I would have been a victim. So, with that, I knew that so many people who are in prison did not commit the offence they are facing trial for.

“They are there because of friends; and from my research, most of these guys, the same thing that almost happened to me happened to so many of them,” he said.

NCoS to continue reforming lives – PRO

Speaking with Daily Trust Saturday, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) public relations officer, Umar Abubakar, said that despite the high number of inmates awaiting trial, the NCoS had been able to prioritise their reformation.

“In 2023, we were able to improve the treatment regime for inmates in the areas of reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration.

“Suffice it to mention that a total of 1,840 inmates sat for the 2023 NECO/SSCE, while many others are undergoing various academic programmes in custodial centres nationwide.

“As you are aware, our partnership with the National Open University of Nigeria is yielding pragmatic results as many inmates are undergoing various degree programmes, including doctorate degrees, in custody,” he said.

Abubakar said the inmates were also undergoing different training programmes in crafts and mechanised farming to allow them to be self-sufficient when they get out.

Also speaking, Adikwu Owoicho, the Education Desk Officer, NCoS, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) command said, “We have registered over 1,500 inmates in Kuje alone for the WASCE and NECO and also in Suleja Correctional Centre.

“We have registered over 200 inmates in the National Open University of Nigeria and we have had countless graduates, including B.Sc, masters, and PhD and many of them are still running the programme as we talk,” he said.