Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS, has decried the stigmatisation of ex-convicts, urging Nigerians to refrain from it and assist such people to integrate into the society.
Controller of Corrections, NCoS, Oyo State Command, Mr Ayoola Opadeji, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Ibadan.
Opadeji said many ex-convicts, who passed through the correction centres, come out reformed, rehabilitated and ready to be integrated into the society.
He said various measures such as formal education, vocational skills acquisition, psychological assessment and religious counsel among others have been put in place by the service to ensure reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.
According to him, “Here in Oyo State, a lot of them are taught carpentry, shoe making, fashion designing, farming, bakery and other trades.
“In our educational programmes, we have some that started their primary and secondary schools here and had a minimum of five credits in NECO examination. They later went ahead to further their education at tertiary institutions after release from the facility.
“Some are now lawyers, doctors, PhD holders, so they can be employed. I advise that the stigmatisation challenges be completely erased.
“We have some individuals that their criminal aspect of life have changed positively and they are now living meaningful lives because they took advantage of the vocational skills training and educational programmes at the centre to develop themselves and established on it after their release.”
The controller cited the example of an ex-convict, who is now a well known fashion designer in Lagos State.
He noted that the service is however being careful not to divulge his name to avoid stigmatisation, as well as not to rundown his business.
However, he said there are some ex-convicts who still went back to crime after their release from the correctional facility.
“It is like criminality is in their blood and those individuals are people who are called jailbirds,”Opadeji said.
The controller said the efforts of the service in reforming inmates have been mostly successful except for some recalcitrant ones.
He urged relevant government agencies and the general public to assist in advocating reduction in the stigmatisation of ex-convicts.
Opadeji called on parents and teachers to instill discipline and morals in their children and students respectively in order to reduce crime in the society. NAN
