The Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin has applauded men of the Nigerian Prison Service, NPS on their prison reformation innovations, which he said will improve inmates’ integration into the society after serving jail term.
Ogundoyin said this on Wednesday during a courtesy call on the Oyo State Comptroller of the agency, Mr. Akinwujomu Tosin and the management team in Ibadan.
While addressing the Nigerian Prison’s officers and other lawmakers present, Ogundoyin explained that the purpose of the visitation is to create a beneficial relationship with NPS and other security agencies operating within the State so as to improve security of lives and properties.
“We have gone to other security agencies and decided to make Nigerian Prison our last bus-stop not because we are thinking less of the agency, but because we know that they are last guards on the issue of security in this nation.
“When other agencies, the police, army, immigration service, civil defense and so on make arrest, after the prosecution in the court of law, the suspects are found guilty and sentenced, the prison takes it from there to reform and rehabilitate inmates into better citizens that can return and be fit into a sane society.
“We assure you that the 9th assembly will work diligently, and we will give you every necessary support, so far it is in the best interest of our people. Thus, if there is any issue, please do not hesitate to call us,” he added.
In his words while addressing the newsmen, the Oyo State NPS comptroller, Akinwujomu Tosin described overcrowding as one of the major challenges facing the agency.
According to him, all the prisons in Oyo state has a total capacity of 630, but the facilities are presently accommodating 1678 inmates, having a total congestion number of 1070 inmates.
He said, “We currently running some reformation programs in the Nigerian Prisons that have really changed the prison from what it use to be known as a place of punishment for offended of laws, to a rehabilitation home for inmates.
“We organise vocational training and skills acquisition programmes for inmates in art and crafts, also in farming. We even encourage education like classes, in which recently we enrolled 37 inmates and all of them had more than 6 credits in subjects registered.
“We are in talk with tertiary schools running distance learning programmes to consider having centers in prison facilities, and we are also calling the you as lawmakers to enact review existing laws, in which ex-convicts should be able to secure decent jobs after leaving the prison.
“When ex-convicts are condemned after leaving the prison, they cannot associate or get a job which they are qualified for just because they have being to the prison before, then the tendency of such going back to crime is higher.
Akinwujomu therefore call on the government to assist in increasing the prison facilities presently available in the state.
“If can have another prison facility situated in Oke- Ogun, it will ease the stress and risk involve in moving inmates from other facilities around the State to courts in Oke-Ogun during court sessions,” he added.
