The Nigerian Prisons Service (NP has been declared winner of the 2018 United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Confucius Award for Literacy and Skills Development.
Making the presentation at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the Director General of UNESCO, Ms Audrey Azoulay noted with satisfaction the uniqueness in enhancing the capacity of prisoners to access knowledge and skills for self development.
In a statement by the NPS spokesman, Francis Enobore, the UNESCO boss emphasized that occupation specific and literacy skills will continue to play vital roles particularly in addressing ex-convicts acceptance back into the society.
He said while receiving the award, the Controller General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed thanked the organizers for the recognition and promised to extend the opportunity to reach more prisoners across the country.
The NPS boss however, appealed to well meaning Nigerians and corporate bodies to assist ex-offenders who might not have completed their free studies before discharge and would be required to pay for continuation once out of the prison.
“He noted that most indigent prisoners may be lost in the process and may return to crime,
” Enobore quoted the CG as saying.
The Nigerian Prisons Service presently has about 465 undergraduate inmates, 23 master degree students and 2 studying for their PhD programmes in 10 special study centres across the country.
