NATIONAL: Patronise our inmates’ shoes, garments, others, NCS urges Nigerians

THE Nigeria Correctional Service has proved it has been living up to the reason it was established, which is, among others, to rehabilitate and reform the inmates in its custody.

This became evident today when Controller General of the service, Ja’afaru Ahmed urged Nigerians to support local content by patronising inmates of its custodial centres for their shoes and garments.

The CGS said this to assure Nigerians that their custodial centres are not just torture chambers where inmates are inflicted with excruciating pains.

Ahmed made the plea during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by NCoS with a private entrepreneur on a Public Private Partnership PPP arrangement.

A statement from the Public Relations department of the NCoS signed by CSC James O. Okoh noted that the Service is set to expand the frontiers of vocational skills acquisition for inmates in shoes, garments and leather works.

“The first phase of this engagement is the Shoe and Garment factory in Aba Custodial Centre and the Leather Factory in Janguza Custodial Centre, Kano State”, the statement added.

The CGC noted that the benefit of this arrangement includes skills acquisition by the inmates which will enhance their employability when they are discharged.

“It will also increase the internally generated revenue of the Service and enhance self-sustainability in the provision of staff uniforms and foot wears as well as inmates’ uniforms and beddings”, he said.

Ahmed used the opportunity “to solicit for the support and patronage of members of the public for goods produced by inmates in other to create a sense of self-worth in the offenders”.

President Buhari had in 2019 directed that all military and para-military agencies should resort to purely local sourcing of their uniforms and foot wears.

“This laudable initiative was borne out of the need to generate employment for Nigerians, conserve foreign exchange, utilize local raw materials and generate other value added services in the chain of production”, the statement added.