FG to begin skill acquisition training for convicts

Chibuzor Alli

The Federal Government has announced the start of vocational skills to convicts at the 241 Nigeria’s correctional facilities and make them ready for life after detention.

The statement was made known by the president Senior Special Adviser on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship, Abiola Arogundade, on Wednesday, at the Abuja press conference.

Speaking at the event, Arogundade discloses that President Bola Tinubu is interested in the habitation of the internees, declaring that every participant will get N500,000 grant at the completion of the vocational programme.

Confirming that the Nigerian Correctional service is 241 Safeguarding amenities, the Tinubu’s aide concluded that 500 convicts in each facility would be allowed.
She said, “We launched the scheme in Kuje after we took a few members to do an audit on the needs of the inmates. Every single person we train there is also going to be certified. We are partnering with global bodies to ensure any skill you acquire in Nigeria will be recognised worldwide.
“At the end of their prison term and our training, we give them N500,000 to set up their business so they don’t become second-time offenders after leaving the correctional centred. This scheme is ongoing.

“After Kuje Correctional Centre, we are moving to Suleja. We are going to try and duplicate this intervention in all our correctional facilities. We are also working with the Bank of Industry. For instance, we will train the beneficiaries on how to have the best skills in hairdressing in a kiosk they can also use for POS and other business ventures.
“We are partnering with banks. They will supply the POS in a place where people can also come in to charge phones. We are using that as a multi-purpose intervention for three streams of income after we train and certify them.
“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.”

However, the vocational acquisition programme is said to be, hair making, computer training, fashion designer, fish farming, poultry business, and soap making.

Meanwhile, Arogundade mention that 500 would also be considered in the total of 723 inmates in Kuje for the reason of seemingly conscripting into the military.

“Our target is to start with people closer to the end of their sentence so that as you regain your freedom, you leave with the skills and the N500,000 grant. We have looked at some case studies in other countries, like the Norwegian prisons to see what they did because they have a very low second time offenders rate. So we have been working with that very closely.
“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.