Stop abandoning juveniles in correction centres – Official urges

Mrs Abimbola Ogunyemi, the Comptroller of Correction, Borstal Training Intitution, Ganmo, Kwara, has urged parents to stop abandoning juveniles in correction centres.
Borstal institution is a facility of the Nigeria Correctional Service.
Ogunyemi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday that reformation and rehabilitation of juveniles should be a tripartite arrangement involving parents, government and institution.
“Mostly their parents bring them here to abandon them and raising adults like this is a tripartite arrangement involving the parents, school and the government.
“Government have been fulfilling its part by accommodating the children but they need their parental love also.
“We have been trying our best but we can’t do everything.
“Some of them are abandoned and their parents never look back and it does not augur well for the institution.
“Parents are allowed to pay visit to their children at least once every month,” Ogunyemi said.
She said the institution was reforming and rehabilitating the children to return to the society as responsible individuals.
“We take into custody maladjusted juveniles with the hope of reforming and rehabilitating them, so that they can return to the society as responsible individuals.
“This we do by way of educating them, we train them by running a normal school from JSS1 to SS3 and afterwards they take external examination like WAEC and NECO.
“And for those that are not educationally inclined, we train them in vocations; namely carpentry, tailoring, knitting, welding and automobile engineering.
“And for these people not to leave here empty handed, we get them certificated through the Federal Ministry of Labour by way of trade test,” the comptroller said.
Ogunyemi added that the students who are between the ages of 16 and 21 spend a minimum of nine months and maximum of three years.
She added that the management invite Imams and Pastors to come and appeal to their conscience because, according to her, ”we cannot take away the place of prayer in rehabilitation”. (NAN)