The Controller of Prisons, Lagos Command, Mr. Tunde Ladipo has disclosed that two of its inmates are already pursuing their PhD at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons.
According to Ladipo, there is renewed interests in education among the inmates across the various prisons in the state. He said the progress and courage exhibited by the two PhD inmates at the maximum prison had sparked off a new zeal for academic pursuit among other inmates. In his words: “The command is committed in ensuring that no inmate is left behind in terms of education, as this is part of the reformation we are carrying out. “Sometime around May or June, two of the inmates, who have acquired their Masters degrees enrolled for their PhD in the newly-established National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, centre at the Kirikiri facility. “One of the inmates is studying Business Management and the other Peace and Conflict Resolution.
The Vice Chancellor of NOUN, who personally presented them with the letter approving their PhD courses said it is tuition free. “To us, this is ground breaking and very encouraging, as they have shown that they are not limited by the situation they find themselves. And that is part of the essence of our on-going reformation across the prisons. “As a result of this, the command is also witnessing an increase of enrollment of inmates into various categories of learning at the various prisons schools. “We are indeed happy with the establishment of the new NOUN Centre at the Kirikiri Prison, with state-of-the art facilities such as ultra modern and well-stocked library, computers and air conditioners.” According to him, 157 inmates across the prisons in the state have registered for the upcoming second series of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE, for private candidates. Giving a breakdown of the statistics of the inmates from the various facilities, he said that 91 of the inmates were from the Ikoyi Prisons, 12 from the Female Prisons, 14 from the Medium and 40 from the Maximum Prisons.
