Members of Ebonyi State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists on Tuesday donated food items, clothing and other welfare materials to the State remand home in Abakaliki.
The visit and donation to the home was part of activities mapped out by the Union in celebration of its 2019 Press Week.
The remand home located at Mile 50 Layout, in the Ebonyi State Capital, under the supervision of the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development houses minors and under-aged children involved in various incarcerable offences.
Speaking during the visit, the Organising Committee Chairman of the Press Week and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Government House Correspondent, Amaechi Odo, said the visit was necessitated by the need for the Union to make positive social impact as well as extend filial love to the inmates.
He noted that Journalists as Watch dog of Society has a God-given role of penetrating all habitations and settlement with the aim of seeking improvements from concerned authorities where necessary, adding that the Press Week had offered yet another opportunity to mingle with the inmates.
Odo said: “We are here to celebrate with the inmates of this remand home.”They are part and parcel of the society and we are the watchdog of the society.
“So, our God given responsibility has brought us to this place through press week because if not for press week, we wouldn’t have come en mass like this.
“We are here to celebrate with them, to look into their affairs to see where they are staying and see how it is being kept.
“This press week started yesterday with a road work.
“Today, we are visiting here and tomorrow will be a novelty match while the grand finale will be on Thursday.
“So, it has been a mouthwatering event.”
Admonishing the inmates, an Executive members of the Union, Comrade Juliana Okoro, told the inmates to change their lives while in the remand home so that they will not return on account of bad behaviours when discharged.
She prayed and expressed optimism that they would leave the remand home very soon.
One of the inmates (name withheld), commended NUJ for their visit and donations to them which he noted has shown that they were loved.
The inmate acknowledged that they have offended the government and the society in general by committing crimes which brought them to the home and promised that they would change their ways.