KEY POINTS

• Peter Obi is also for skill acquisition programs for inmates’ rehabilitation.
• He commends Archbishop Okeke and Operation skill acquisition centre in Onitsha.
• Calls upon government to bring on similar initiatives in other correctional facilities.

Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has urged the Federal Government to make skill acquisition a priority among inmates in all the correctional facilities in Nigeria.

Such projects would help in rehabilitation and equip inmates to be good post rehabilitation and live a positive and productive life, he said.

Acting on the injunction of the visit he made to Nigerian Correctional Centre, Onitsha, on Christmas day, Obi made this call via a post on his X handle on Thursday.

“People who empower inmates with skills to rehabilitate them will be helping them to be able to contribute to society productively,” said Obi. “Most of these programs are designed specifically to help youths in the correctional schools head towards a more positive future.”

Redefining education and skills in the core of reforms

He also lauded on his visit the efforts of Archbishop Valerian Okeke who has promoted skill acquisition and education programmes in the Onitsha camp.

The correctional facility’s Skill Acquisition Centre is functioning fully, he said, adding that it empowers inmates with different productive skills.

Obi also commended the National Open University of Nigeria for setting up a study center where inmates can go further with their education and write exams such as on the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB).

I believe very strongly in education as a key to national development, hence these educational initiatives are worthy of commendation, Obi said. He said, “The government should replicate this feat in other correctional centers countrywide.”

But Obi said celebrating with the distressed during festive seasons is part of his tradition, and the visit did reaffirm the transformative potential of education and skills in correctional centers.