NPS Enrols 465 Nigerian Prison Inmates for Degree Programmes -CG

NPS Enrols 465 Nigerian Prison Inmates for Degree
Programmes -CG
… Wins Multiple Global Awards in 2018

The Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) has enrolled 465 inmates for
academic programmes just as it won multiple international awards
for promoting education and campaigns on prison decongestion this
year.

The Comptroller General of Prison, Jaafaru Ahmed who made the
disclosure while handing over the awards to the Minister of
Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazau at a brief ceremony in Abuja
noted that the service currently has no fewer than 465 inmates
studying undergraduate courses at the National Open University of
Nigeria NOUN while many others have begun their post-graduate
programmes.

Jaafaru Ahmed said: “As we speak today, we have over 465 inmates
in various disciplines, 23 are doing their post graduate degrees.
We also have an active collaboration with the College of Education,
Yelwa where we have also graduated scores of inmates. We blend
formal education with skills acquisition and we hope that this will
be a model for this country so that the country’s university
graduates can be self-employed upon graduation. We have aftercare
services where we equip all the inmates that have been discharged
and I am happy that they doing well and have left the lives of
crime”, he said.

He listed several international awards that the service had won
this year saying; “With the cooperation of the National Open
University of Nigeria (NOUN), the Prisons Service has won the 2018
UNESCO/Confucius Prize for Literacy, beating 70 other entries from
across the world to clinch the coveted prize at a ceremony in
Paris, France and awarded a $20, 000 cash prize, medals and a
diploma as well as accorded an opportunity to visit China, the
birthplace of the Chinese Educationist and Philosopher,
Confucius.

“The service also won two SABRE Awards of Africa Public
Relations Association (APRA) for Public Education and Public Sector
in Gaborone, Botswana as well as Golden World Awards of
International Public Relations Association in Barcelona Spain on
Crisis Management for campaigns on Prison Decongestion by tackling
the plight of awaiting trial inmates (ATI).

“The NPS’ PR campaigns which were executed by Image Merchants
Promotion Limited, publishers of PRNigeria, created massive public
awareness for mass-mobilization and positive response from the
concerned stakeholders who deployed legal and constitutional
procedures to address the challenges of the alarming statistics of
ATI.

“These prizes are made possible by the Prisons Service in terms
of providing educational and humanitarian services and effective
collaborations with our major stakeholders including the media
especially in the improvement of the welfare of staff and
inmates.

Dambazau on his part commended the management of the Nigerian
prison service for its accomplishments in prison reforms. He also
urged stakeholders to scale up their assistance to prison inmates
to cover their resettlement and reintegration into the society upon
their release.

Dambazau said: “I must commend the Comptroller General of Prison
Service, Jaafaru Ahmed for his forward-looking and creative
initiatives and administrative ingenuity in addressing the plights
of inmates and accomplishing various managerial tasks with minimal
supervisions. I urge other agencies to emulate his giant
strides.

“Education is a right to all Nigerians including prison inmates
and this is one of the things we are pursuing. It is also one of
the quickest ways to rehabilitate inmates. Just like we cannot ask
inmates to pay for their feeding, we will not also ask them to pay
for education. We must collaborate on how to sustain the
educational advancements of ex-inmates. In other words, it has to
be total resettlement and integration programme. We must assist
them in job placements too. Even marriage, we should find wives for
them, we should find husbands for them. This is not a laughing
matter because people discriminate against them more than any other
group of persons”.

NOUN Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu on his part called
for more support in order for the university to continue to sustain
the tuition-free educational programmes being enjoyed by inmates,
adding that the university has structured its assistance to the
inmates in a way that they can now pursue their educational dreams
up to postdoctoral level and at no cost.

By PRNigeria