FG starts offering prisoners vocational training

In order to empower prisoners in Nigeria’s 241 correctional facilities and get them ready for life after prison, the Federal Government has started providing vocational training.

Abiola Arogundade, the President’s Senior Special Advisor on Technical, Vocational, and Entrepreneurship Education, made this announcement on Wednesday during a news conference in Abuja.

Arogundade stated that each recipient will receive a grant of N500,000 upon completion of the skills acquisition program, expressing President Bola Tinubu’s interest over the rehabilitation of the prisoners into society.

241 custodial facilities, 85 satellite custodial centers, 15 agricultural centers, two open custodial camps, four institutions, seven training schools, and non-custodial services are all part of the Nigerian Correctional Service’s nationwide network.

However, the presidential adviser emphasized that following the official launch of the pilot program at Kuje Center, which can accommodate 723 inmates at present, only 500 inmates from each facility will be taken into consideration.

“After we took a few members to do an audit on the needs of the inmates,” she stated, “we launched the scheme in Kuje.” Every individual we instruct there will moreover hold a certification. We are collaborating with international organizations to guarantee that any expertise you get in Nigeria will be acknowledged globally.

“We offer them N500,000 to start their business when their prison term and training is over, to prevent them from committing crimes again after they leave the correctional facility. This plan is still in action.

“We are relocating to Suleja following Kuje Correctional Center.” We intend to attempt a replication of this strategy throughout all of our prisons. Additionally, we collaborate with the Bank of Industry. For example, we will teach the beneficiaries how to be the best hair stylists in a kiosk that they can use for other commercial endeavors, such as point of sale systems.

“Banks are collaborating with us. The point of sale will be located in an area where individuals may also come to charge their phones. After we teach and certify them, we are going to use that as a multipurpose intervention for three revenue streams.

“In the correctional centre in Kuje, they have already started things like fashion designs where they are using modern equipment. We are going to donate more state-of-the-art sewing machines. They complained a lot about computers hence we will be donating laptops. We have different modules for training. Some are for six months of training while others are for nine months.”

Arogundade went on to list a some of the vocations that could be pursued, including hairdressing, computer training, fashion design, fish farming, soap manufacturing, and poultry business.

She said that the initiative was modeled after a similar system that was successfully implemented in Norwegian jails, while emphasizing that the targets are individuals who have a few months remaining on their terms.

Our goal is to work with those who are nearing the end of their sentence so that when they are released from prison, they will have the necessary skills and the N500,000 award. Since Norway has a very low percentage of repeat offenders, we have examined various case studies from other nations, such as its prison system. Thus, we have been collaborating closely on it.

“Although in Kuje, there are 723 inmates, we would like to train a minimum of 500. The reason is that we cannot compel them so it doesn’t look like conscription into the military. That’s what the President stands for. He wants to carry everybody along. So we talked to them and handed out questionnaires because some will tell you they don’t want to be trained,” she stated.