FIRST YEAR UNDERGRADUATES MATRICULATE AT THE MEDIUM SECURITY PRISON KIRIKIRI

They looked like matriculating students in a regular university academic session. They were rather some inmates of Medium Security Prison, Kirikiri Lagos who were the pioneer undergraduates of Life Recovery Pre-Release Empowerment Programme, otherwise called the Onesimus Project.

The Onesimus Project is a project of the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and it is aimed at empowering inmates whose stay in the prison was short – less than one year. The aim is to properly prepare these about-to-be-released inmates for life after prison. The training programme includes therapy, counselling, vocational skills acquisition and cognitive studies for duration of eighteen months starting from six months before release from prison to 12 months after release.

The PFN partners with Covenant University, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the Nigerian Prisons Service in this noble project. The Controller of Prisons, Lagos State, Mr Bogunjoko in his welcome address welcomed all to the occasion and took the opportunity to pay glowing tributes to the PFN and the other partners for the wonderful work they were doing in the lives of the prison inmates. He admonished the students to take the programme seriously pointing out that they were, as it were, the ultimate beneficiaries.

The Executive Directors, PFN, Benson Iwuagwu, Esq gave more insight into what the Onesimus project was all about. He said it is aimed at checking reoffending by ex-inmates, reducing the rate of recidivism, improving human capital and socio-economic quotient of ex-inmates, easing their re-entry into society, rehabilitation and reintegration into meaningful socio-cultural and economic lives.

These, he said, were noble ideals, which are in tandem with Mr President’s Seven Point Agenda. He also made a case for the abrogation of all discriminatory laws against the employment of ex-inmates. The Chief Special Guest was the Executive Governor of Lagos State, who was represented by the State Director, Poverty Alleviation Programme of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Diola Adepoju. The Governor gave kudos to the organisers of the programme and pledged to continue to support the rehabilitation of inmates back to society.

The Controller-General of Prisons (CGP), O. A. Ogundipe, OFR, mni spoke through his representative, the ACG Medical, Mrs Nwosu. The CGP in his speech acknowledged the fact that partnering with the NPS goes to show the fact that the PFN and the other partners have bought into the radical shift in penal management and administration which emphasises reformation through skill acquisition and empowerment of offenders rather than punishment.

He went on to stress the need for such reorientation because there is a nexus between proper reintegration of ex-convicts and socio-economic development of any country. In an addressed titled ‘Micro-economic Empowerment – A Tool for Crime Curtailment”, the Director, SMEDAN, Alhaji Mohammed Nadada Umar enumerated his agency’s past interventions and pledged his agency’s commitment to this course.

He said SMEDAN is committed to ensuring that each participant is economically empowered within and outside the prison walls. He assured all that SMEDAN will always be willing and ready to facilitate access to all the resources the trainee inmate would need to grow and develop in business endeavour of his/her choice after prison incarceration. Other speakers spoke at the event, among whom is Dr Kunle Oyeyemi of Covenent University who represented the VC Covenant University, Prof Aiza Obayan.

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