Imo residents urged to invest in skills, products of inmates

The Officer In-charge, Owerri Correctional Facility, Nigerian Correctional Service, Eke C. Eke over the weekend described the skills acquired and products of the inmates as capable of improving the economical status of the state if properly harnessed.

Eke said “Before now Prison used to be very much punitive, you just come, serve out and go. Today, given the new nomenclature, every inmate is expected to learn a trade or another, no matter how short. Based on that, we allow production of skills to prevail here”.

Today, in this center, inmates learn how to make soap, shoes, sanders, laundry, liquid soap, tailoring, sewing, barbering, name it. It’s on record that our shoes are one of the best you can get in the State’. “We have twelve inmates that can make any kind of shoes”.

“When you check those that make shoes and tailoring locally, our products are the best you can find around here. Our soaps are the best produced by the inmates. We are not producing detergent because before we produce detergent, we need the production machine. Everything we wear here, except we want to go outside, is sewn in this place, both uniforms and civil wears. The female wing of the inmates are not left out. They’re using the driers in the female salons, where they do hairdressing”.

“The idea is that after the inmates are reformed, rehabilitated and reintegrated back to the society, they become skillful and useful. We don’t reintegrate back to the society empty-handed. The inmates must acquire the skills that they need to make them better citizens after they serve out the years in the custodial center”.

Eke continued, “The skills and empowerment are for the convicted inmates but it’s not denied the inmates awaiting trial. We keep telling the inmates that there’s no problem here, the problem is outside. That’s why we are equipping the inmates for the challenges and problems outside”.

Eke revealed that the facility has NECO examination centre where the inmates write exams. “Last year, we had ten inmates who wrote the NECO examination and they made hundred percent. Of all that wrote the examination last year, everybody passed. The margin of score were between A and B. Today, we have over 15 inmates that would be writing this year’s examination”.

“We have challenge of marketing the products being produced here. Nobody even knows we do all these things here. We call on residents of the state to patronize the products being produced even at a cheaper rate to encourage the inmates.

Eke also urged good spirited individuals and philanthropist to come and register the inmates for the NECO examination as some of them cannot afford the registration. “I took it upon myself to reach out to some parents to come and register their child so that they benefit from the productive skills and empowerment offered by the center”.

“We are also faced with the challenge of finance as most of the products are being financed by individual officers because of the passion they have in supporting the inmates. “There’s need to support the skills being developed by the inmates”.