No fewer than 50 inmates in Nigerian prisons are undergoing different degree programmes in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) said in its 2012 report.
The report, contained in NPS in-house journal and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday, said 12 inmates were undergoing training at NOUN Centre in Enugu, 18 in Port Harcourt, 16 in Lagos and four in Awka.
It said 55 inmates enrolled for the November/December Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), organised by the National Examination Council and West African Examinations Council.
The service said 69 inmates at Borstal Institute, Kaduna, sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination.
It also said that 19 inmates wrote and passed the 2012 First School Leaving Certificate Examination, while 32 enrolled for the SSSCE in Awka Prison.
The report said 690 inmates had been empowered with tools under the Inmate Training and Resettlement Programme (ITRP) since 2012.
The publication said the service had completed two workshops equipped with tailoring, carpentry and welding equipment for the training of inmates in Kuje and Kaduna prisons.
It said the service also trained 109 inmates in vocational skills and conducted trade tests 145 inmates during the year.
In an interview with NAN, the Public Relations Officer of NPS, Mr Ope Fatinikun, said the training was to discourage the participants from engaging in crime after serving their jail terms.
He said that training the inmates in both formal and informal education was to empower and enable them to live normal lives after serving time
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