I was jailed 4 yrs for offence I didn’t commit, says ex-Kuje inmate

Forum 1 year ago

I was jailed 4 yrs for offence I didn’t commit, says ex-Kuje inmate

The Nigerian Correctional Service NCoS has presented after-care materials to 25 ex-offenders to help them lead a more productive life having served their various jail terms.

At the event, one of the beneficiaries, Friday Inyang briefly recounted how he was arrested in 2018 for an offence he said he did not commit. He would thereafter go on to spend over four years at the Kuje Custodial Centre in Abuja.

For the most part of the four years, Inyang spent his time studying carpentry even while most of his family and friends abandoned him.

He said; “I want to thank you all for today. I am very happy to pass this test. I was arrested on February 13, 2018, for an offence I didn’t commit and on April 7 2022, I was discharged. I spent over 4 years in Kuje prison.

“My parents and friends rejected me all this while but I am very happy that this service has recognized me. My hope has been restored today.

“Sir (referring to the NCoS boss), the way you trained your people, they showed us, love. It is only a fool who does not know the benefits of warders to inmates. Your men gave me hope and trained me well in carpentry, even when I thought I couldn’t do it.

“I think now, my family will come back to me. May God bless you all”.

Presenting the aftercare tools to the 25 ex-offenders, Controller General of the NCoS, Haliru Nababa said the gesture would be replicated in all commands and formations 9f the Service.

According to him, the beneficiaries had acquired vocational skills while serving their terms of imprisonment.

He said the reintegration of ex-offenders into society not only as responsible citizens but productive citizens would enable them to be self-sustaining so as to keep them away from crime and make the country safer.

He said; “This is to be replicated across the commands and various formations. They have been trained in the area of barbing, carpentry, welding and fabrication, hairdressing, fashion design and others.

“I wish to call on all Nigerians to fully accept these citizens and support their trade. I also appeal to well-spirited individuals to support our inmate training programme. Ex-offenders if not well treated and reintegrated are likely to return to their former ways. The onus lies on us to break the cycle of criminality by helping ex-offenders to start a better life”.

He urged them to put to good use the tools, to the point of becoming employers of labour.

Nababa added that the service continues to work towards enhancing inmate welfare through robust welfare and health services.

Earlier, Assistant Controller General ACG in charge of Welfare, Mustapha Ilyasu Attah, lamented that serving prisoners and those who have completed their terms are facing deprivation and stigmatization from society and even from their own immediate families.

“These people are products of society and are a reflection of society. After their terms, they are expected to return to society but not as social misfits. The benefit of integration and empowering our ex-offenders are enormous as it will enable them to contribute their quota to national development.

“I, therefore, urge the beneficiaries to effectively utilize the materials in order to add value to themselves and society. The Service will be disappointed if the ex-offenders do not put to good use the materials”, Attah added.