The Federal Government has started the training of inmates in prisons across Nigeria with each of the prisoners also being offered the sum of N500,000 as grant upon the completion of the exercise.
This was made known on Wednesday by Abiola Arogundade who is the Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education.
Arogundade shared this information in a press conference in Abuja where she also revealed that the Federal Government plans to empower five million Nigerians yearly with different artisan skills.
“We launched the scheme in Kuje (Custodial Centre) after we took a few members to do an audit on the needs of the inmates,” she said.
“Every single person we train there is also going to be certified. We are partnering with global bodies to ensure any skill you acquire in Nigeria will be recognised worldwide.
“At the end of their prison term and our training, we will give them N500,000 to set up their business so they don’t become second-time offenders after leaving the correctional centres. This scheme is ongoing.”
Arogundade stated that after Kuje Correctional Centre, they will be moving to Suleja as they are going to try and duplicate this intervention in all the correctional facilities in Nigeria.
She explained that the Nigerian government is also working with the Bank of Industry to achieve its aims.
Tinubu’s Special Adviser said they will train the beneficiaries on how to have the best skills in hairdressing in a kiosk they can also use for Point of Sales (POS) and other business ventures.
“We are partnering with banks. They will supply the POS in a place where people can also come in to charge phones,” said Arogundade.
“We are using that as a multi-purpose intervention for three streams of income after we train and certify them.
“In the correctional centre in Kuje, they have already started things like fashion designs where they are using modern equipment. We are going to donate more state-of-the-art sewing machines.
“They complained a lot about computers hence we will be donating laptops. We have different modules for training. Some are for six months of training while others are for nine months.”
