From Joseph Inokotong, Abuja
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) is set to expand the frontier of vocational skills acquisition for inmates in shoes, garments and leather works.
This was made know by the Controller General of Corrections (CGC), Ja’afaru Ahmed on Wednesday during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by NCoS with a private entrepreneur on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
In a statement issued Wednesday in Abuja, CSC James O. Okoh, Public Relations Unit of NCoS said 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 CGC noted that the benefit of this arrangement include among other things, skills acquisition by the inmates that will enhance their to secure employment and fend for themselves when they are discharged.
According to him, 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 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.
It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, in 2019 gave a directive 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.