Education, skills critical tools for inmates’ reformation – Controller

Ben-Rabbi Freedman, Controller of Correction, Lagos State Command, Nigeria Correctional Service, has identified education and skills acquisition as critical tools in the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.

Freedman stated this at the inauguration of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) special examination and skills acquisition centre at the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Ikoyi, on Tuesday.

According to him, for any country to attain development of any measure, it must consider building human capacity, by way of education and skills acquisition.

The controller said the custodial centre is a microcosm of the larger society.

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He noted that education had proven to be a game changer in terms of mindset, after which all other things would take their natural course. The controller said that every individual needed some form of education, irrespective of where they may find themselves.

“Today, we are here to formally inaugurate the examination/vocational centre of the NOUN, here in our facility.

“The Nigerian Correctional Service has been into very productive partnership, since 2010, essentially to give inmates the opportunity to access education as well as acquire vocational skills.

It has been a worthy partnership between the correctional services and the NOUN because to date, we have enrolled over 2,000 inmates across the federation.

“Let me say that this centre is the second in the state and the 12th in the country. In Lagos state, it has been like the pacesetter because the first ever study and vocational centre for the correctional service, partnering with the NOUN, is the one at our Kirikiri facility,” he said.

He noted that over time, the service had been faced with the burden of conveying the inmates (students) to the Kirikiri Maximum Custodial Centre in huge numbers, to write their examinations, where they would be lodged for a couple of days for the period.