157 Lagos Prison Inmates Set To Sit WASSCE, As Two Pursue PhD

The Lagos Prisons Command has disclosed that inmates in the state prisons have been showing massive interest in education as some inmates are already pursuing their PhDs at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison.

Mr Tunde Ladipo, the Controller of Prisons, Lagos Command, made this known in an interview with NAN.

He stated that a new zeal for education have been brought to life after two inmate inspired others by vying to get themselves a PhD. degree.

“The command is committed in ensuring that no inmate is left behind in terms of education, as this is part of the reformation we are carrying out.

“Sometime around May or June, two of the inmates who have acquired their Masters degrees enrolled for their PhD in the newly established National Open University of Nigeria centre at the Kirikiri facility.

“One of the inmates is studying Business Management and the other, Peace and Conflict Resolution, and the Vice Chancellor of the NOUN who personally presented them with the letter approving their PhD courses said it is tuition free.

“To us, this is ground breaking and very encouraging, as they have shown that they are not limited by the situation they find themselves. And that is part of the essence of our on-going reformation across the prisons.

“As a result of this, the command is also witnessing an increase of enrollment of inmates into various categories of learning at the various prisons schools.

“We are indeed happy with the establishment of the new NOUN centre at the Kirikiri Prison, with state-of-the art facilities such as ultra modern and well stocked library, computers and air conditioners,” Ladipo told NAN.

According to him, about 157 inmate have registered as private candidates at the upcoming second series of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination across the state.

Giving a breakdown of the statistics of the inmates from the various facilities, he said that 91 of the inmates were from the Ikoyi Prisons, 12 from the Female Prisons, 14 from from the Medium and 40 from the Maximum Prisons.

The Controller assured that the command is putting all that needs to put in place in all the various facilities in the state to ensure that the register inmate come out in flying colours.

“I will like to commend the Federal government for its commitment in exposing the inmates to life-changing reforms that are ongoing currently in the prisons, through education and skills acquisition.

“It is worthy to note that government, through the Controller General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed, recently donated books to facilities across the country for improved research, teaching and learning for the inmates.

“This, coupled with the new facilitators we have engaged to complement the existing ones in facilities, will go a long way in improving the performance of the inmates during the WASSCE examination.

“Aside intervention from the Federal government in preparing the inmates for the examination, a bank also presented cash donation as well as some fans, in an effort to upgrade the facilities for conducive teaching and learning,” he said.

The state controller said that empowering the inmates with education would go a long way in restoring confidence in them, as well as make them less dependent persons, whenever they regained freedom.