Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), on Tuesday empowered two freed inmates in Nasarawa State with startup pack following the completion of their vocational skills training.
The startup pack included a sewing machine, tailoring accessories, washing machine and laundry equipments.
Alhaji Aliyu Yahuza, Controller of Correctional, Nasarawa State Command, while presenting the items to the beneficiaries in Lafia, said the empowerment was an after-care programme of NCoS to the freed inmates.
Yahuza said the items distributed to the beneficiaries were courtesy of the National Headquarters of the Service by the Controller General, Haliru Nababa.
He explained that the beneficiaries were inmates who had acquired tailoring and laundry skills while in the custody.
According to the Controller, the aftercare programme of NCoS is designed to empower discharged inmates who acquired skills while in custody, with working materials to enable them to be self-reliant.
“Today’s occasion of empowerment, is a replication of what was done in the Headquarters of the Service by our amiable Controller General. I feel it is necessary to make it known to the public, so that people can appreciate what the NCoS is doing.
“This programme is to ensure that those who learned skills or acquired skills while in custody, after being discharged are given working materials to enable them stand on their own as well as train others in the society,” he said.
Yahuza said the training of inmates in various skills acquisition and empowerment became necessary, as it was part of reintegrating them into the society and a means of livelihood so as not go back to crimes
Yahuza, while urging the beneficiaries to make judicial use of the materials to better their lots and society, appealed to philanthropists, organisations and wealthy individuals to come to the assistance of the Command.
“We have several inmates learning various skills, such as soap making, carpentry, weaving and knitting among others. We needed attention for our workshops to function well,” he said.
The beneficiaries, Adamu Haruna and Murtala Usman, while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), thanked the Command for empowering them and promised to make judicious use of the items given to them.(NAN)
