The Oyo Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Monday, said it trained 109 inmates on how to bake bread.
The Zonal Controller in charge of Zone F, Assistant Controller-General (ACG) Abimbola Ogunyemi, made this known while inaugurating a bakery at Agodi Correctional Centre in Ibadan.
The bakery was constructed by Anchor Heritage and handed over to the centre for empowering inmates.
Ogunyemi said that 79 of the 109 inmates trained in baking had graduated.
She said the training was part of efforts by the Service to empower inmates with relevant skills to become self-reliant and useful to their families, after serving their terms.
“These inmates were trained to be professional bakers and the bread baked in this centre will be produced under a hygienic environment,” she said.
In his remarks, the Officer in charge of Agodi Correctional Centre, Deputy Controller of Corrections (DCC), Samuel Ayodele, said that the inmates at the centre never gave him problem, and he loved seeing them happy at all times.
Ayodele, who will be retiring from service on Tuesday, said the duty of a correctional officer was to rehabilitate and reform inmates and not to judge them on what brought them to the centre.
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He said apart from the empowerment, the inmates would also benefit from the proceeds of the products.
“These inmates learnt the bakery with passion and the profit generated from the bakery will be divided into three; a part will be given to them as savings, another for running the bakery and the remaining for the maintenance of the bakery.
“The money saved for the inmates will be given to them when they are living the centre for them to start a business,” he said.
Ayodele announced that he would soon release a movie to educate Nigerians on what a correctional centre is all about.
“I want to correct the impression that inmates who return from correctional facility are never useful to society again.”
The Chief Operating Officer, Anchor Heritage, Bidemi Oladipupo, said seeing inmates return to the society and living a good life after incarceration was what prompted the initiative.
Oladilupo said the bakery was equipped with the necessary facilities that would make the bakery easier and more efficient.
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