Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service NCoS, CGC Ja’afaru Ahmed has pleaded with Nigerians to support government drive on local content by patronising products made by inmates of its custodial centres for their shoes and garments. Ahmed made the plea during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by NCoS with a private entrepreneur on a Public Private Partnership PPP arrangement. A statement from the Public Relations department of the NCoS signed by CSC James O. Okoh noted that the Service is set to expand the frontiers of vocational skills acquisition for inmates in shoes, garments and leather works.
“The first phase of this engagement is the Shoe and Garment factory in Aba Custodial Centre and the Leather Factory in Janguza Custodial Centre, Kano State”, the statement added. The CGC noted that the benefit of this arrangement includes skills acquisition by the inmates which will enhance their employability when they are discharged. “It will also increase the internally generated revenue of the Service and enhance self-sustainability in the provision of staff uniforms and foot wears as well as inmates’ uniforms and beddings”, he said. Ahmed used the opportunity “to solicit for the support and patronage of members of the public for goods produced by inmates in other to create a sense of self-worth in the offenders”.
It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 directed that all military and para-military agencies should resort to purely local sourcing of their uniforms and foot wears. “This laudable initiative was borne out of the need to generate employment for Nigerians, conserve foreign exchange, utilise local raw materials and generate other value added services in the chain of production”, the statement added.
