The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) Zone G, Benin, has begun the production of bread in commercial quantity for both its inmates and members of the public.
In a speech at the official handover of the bakery to the concessionaire, the First Global Hakitekt Bread Bakery Limited, for effective management, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, described the project as laudable.
Tunji-Ojo, represented by the Director of Special Duties in the Ministry, Mrs Comfort Kabirwa, commended the different Controllers in the zone, comprising Edo, Delta, Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi, for their buy-in into the project.
He underscored the importance of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), saying that the recent decongestion of Correctional Centres in rhe country was not government funded but facilitated through corporate social responsibility.
“We have to think out of the box to achieve our mandate.
“The bakery is a laudable project because it will help build the skills of the inmates, give them a source of livelihood and make them employable after leaving the correctional centre,’’ Tunji-Ojo said.
He further said that changing the name from prisons to correctional “was intentional not just for rebranding but to change the way prisoners were treated”, even after serving their terms.
Earlier, the Controller General of Corrections, Haliru Nababa, said that the bakery was the initiative of the NCoS and the concessionaire under a PPP arrangement.
Nababa said the project was also supported by the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Finance and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
“It is a pilot initiative aimed at enhancing the performances of Federal Government projects.
“The First Global Hakitekt Bread Bakery Limited is expected to bring in expertise to allow for a win-win situation for both parties,” he said.
Nababa, represented by the NCoS Zonal Controller, Zone G, Assistant Controller General, Mr Friday Ovie, said the initiative was in line with the mandate of the service, which included inmates rehabilitation via skill acquisition.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of the bakery, Mr Dare Eluyemi, said the project was not only to equip inmates with bakery skills but create jobs in the bakery value chain.
“The bakery project has the capacity to produce bread for more than 32,000 inmates on a daily basis.
“It will help to reduce government’s spending on the feeding of inmates in correctional centres and also sold to the public for income generation,” he said.
Also, the Edo Controller of NCoS, Philomena Emehinola, said the bakery initiative was a plus to the state, adding that it would put the state command of NCoS in the limelight.
“We will make the project sustainable to feed our inmates as well as build their skills in bakery,” Emehinola said.
She said that the inmates, who would undergo training in the bakery, would be paid some stipend as incentive under the earning scheme.
She, however, said their earnings would be handed over to them at the end of their jail term.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the pilot project would run for two years after which it would be replicated in other zones of the NCoS.
NAN
