Earlier today, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Technical Vocation and Entrepreneurship Education, Abiola Arogundade disclosed that the Federal Government is starting a vocational training for inmates in all the 241 correctional facilities centers in Nigeria to motivate and prepare them for life after prison.
He revealed this at a press conference in Abuja where he stated that President Bola Tinubu is focused on the integration of inmates to the society and each beneficiary will be given N500,000 on completion of the skills acquisition programme.
We are launching of the pilot program at Kuje Center which can take in 723 inmate at a whole but 500 inmates from each facility will be picked.
“Each person trained will be certified and we will collaborate with the global bodies to make sure all skills acquire in Nigeria are accepted worldwide and at the end of their prison term, each trainer will be giving N500,000 to start up any business of their choice.
“The Kuje center has started using modern equipment to learn fashion designs, some are for six months training while others are nine months. Sewing machines will be donated to them as well as laptops.
“The next Correctional Centre to visit will be Suleja, which will also extend to other correctional centers. We are partnering with Bank of Industry(BOI) to supply POS, kiosk where people can charge their phones and do other business to enable them make multiple streams of income after they have been train and certified. Other vocational skills are computer training, hair making, fish farming, soap making and poultry business.”
Arogundade also stressed that they are starting with those close to the end of their sentence so they can gain this skill before the get their freedom as questionnaires will be handed to those who are interested for the training.