NGO secures release of 398 inmates, highlights reintegration challenges

Anchor Heritage Initiative, a non-governmental organisation, has revealed that it has facilitated the release of 398 inmates convicted of various offences over the past seven years, in line with its mission to assist convicts who were victims of circumstance and lacked legal representation.

The Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Bidemi Oladipupo, made this disclosure during the 7th anniversary celebration of the initiative, held at Lighthouse Christian Outreach Centre, Oregun, Ikeja.

Oladipupo noted that the organisation’s outreach has extended beyond Lagos, now covering the South-West, Kwara, Kogi, and North-Central states.

He stated, “Our success has been made possible by God and our legal team, through whom we have secured the release of 398 inmates who had no lawyer to represent them.

“For instance, we handled the case of a young man imprisoned after failing to pay for pieces of fresh fish he took on credit. Another was a man who had been sentenced to death. While this was not directly our case, we prayed with him, and we were pleased when he eventually received a state pardon.”

However, Oladipupo highlighted several challenges the initiative faces, such as difficulties in uncovering the truth in some cases and accessing the families of inmates to gather facts about their situations. He also lamented the public perception that all inmates are criminals, which has hampered support for the organisation’s efforts.

A significant challenge, he added, is reintegrating freed inmates back into society. Oladipupo urged the government to recognise that not all prisoners are criminals and to support initiatives that seek freedom for unjustly imprisoned individuals.

He explained that if more people understood the mission behind the organisation’s work, they would be more willing to assist in reintegrating released inmates.

Oladipupo also outlined the principles guiding the initiative’s efforts as fairness, rehabilitation, reformation, reintegration, empathy, and excellence, calling for government collaboration.

He further revealed that the initiative had established an Information Technology (IT) hub for inmates to improve their skills and set up a bakery to transform their lives.