By Vera Wisdom-Bassey
It was joy when 163 personnel of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Kirikiri Training College, Lagos, passed out from the college recently.
The event started with a striking passing-out parade. It was a day that the staff would not forgot, having undergone training for six months.
Among those who passed out were Mallomo Olushola, Idris Nnaji, who was the ground commandant of the day’s parade, Atiku Isa, Umudike Emmanuel and Idris Mohammed, among others.
They all came from different parts of Nigeria to camp at Kirikiri while the programme lasted. The purpose was for the trainees to take the knowledge gained to better the correctional centres where they are placed.
The Comptroller of Prisons, Haliru Nababa, represented by Uche Nwaobi, inspected the right command at the gate before proceeding to inspect those that were passing out.
The passing-out parade, which was lead by G. Idris Mohammed, was beautifully delivered to the admiration of guests and their colleagues.
Awards were given to eight students who did very well during the training.
Nababa expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari for finding him worthy to handle the prisons.
However, he expressed concerns over attacks on the correctional centres, saying more facilities were needed to meet the increasing need.
Nwaobi stated that 900 students were undertaking programmes in various universities across the country. He said that the results and testimonies have been amazing. He called on the participants to put in use what they learnt during the training.
On ger part, the Deputy Comptroller of Female Prisons, Lizzie Ekpendu, was happy that the participants have learnt a lot and they were going to impact junior colleagues and inmates.
She urged them to practise what they have learnt at the college, to make the centres a better place for inmates and others.
Also, Commandant Mohammed Aliyu Bukar, who is in charge of the college, called on government to give the prisons more operational tools in order to make their jobs seamless.
He advised the officers to shun corruption and imbibe the culture of discipline.
One of the candidates, Glory Ajibade, who was happy for a successful training, called on the public and inmates to expect more from them.
She promised to give the inmates reasons to live a positive life, while calling on Nigerian youths to live a life free of crime.
Another student, Joseph Koma, said that the training was a challenging one, though he learnt a lot on how he could help inmates to become better citizens when they are re-united with their families and the public.