By Jonathan Ugbal
Civic Space actors in Delta State in the Niger Delta region have hailed the accreditation of the Warri Custodial Centre as a centre for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, SSCE, by the West African Examination Council, WAEC.
The custodial centre, located along Okere road in Warri South Local Government Area, is commonly called Okere Prison. The Deputy Controller of Corrections, DCC Edo Ineku, made this known when he recently visited the Chairman of the Local Government Council, Mr. Micahel Tidi where he stressed that, “synergy among stakeholders in the criminal justice system is key,” hence the need for collaboration.
Reacting to the news, Mr. Harry Idoro, the Regional Officer of the Centre for Women Studies and Intervention, CWSI, said this was a win for the civic space and human rights, especially the rights of inmates after prolonged advocacy. He called for such to be extended to the Kwale and Agbor facilities in Delta State and the entire country.
He averred that: “They have gone through the process, and they have been educated – some of them were sentenced while they were students, living their normal life. Now, they are in, and although they are incarcerated, they have rights. For us, it is a welcome development, it is an improvement because this is what we have been fighting for.
“Each and every one of us has rights. Before now, we have been talking about why not allow these persons in these facilities to get exposed in terms of writing these examinations, especially now that they are correctional centres and not prisons as they used to be.”
Furthermore, he said there are expectations in the change from prisons to correctional means, “that they (inmates) have gone through a series of counselling, series of education because I am aware that you have persons who come into the correctional centres, and they are educated. If these persons go through all these processes and mind you there are some who even before they were imprisoned, were going to school, and because of their sentence, their right to education was abridged. If we have a continuation such that they are not only being taught, it is also good that while they are being taught, they have some level of test to see whether or not they are improving.”
Pastor Edewor Egedegbe, the Executive Director of Value Rebirth and Empowerment Initiative, VREI, on his part said while it’s good news, but there are questions about the manpower requirement and infrastructural availability.
“It is not enough to approve the place as a centre, those facilities required, are they there? If they are there, is the right manpower available? These are also key issues but it is a welcome development,” Edewor who also serves as the Director of Studies at Value Rebirth-Centre LSD Leadership School, Effurun-Warri Study Center said.
Also, he asserted that: “The idea of correctional centres is really to rehabilitate those who have found themselves culpable of the law at some point. Because it is a rehabilitation centre, with an (SSCE) centre coming in there, that will help to broaden their scope. Their incarceration will not limit them in learning because of the opportunity that has been created for them. It will better the lives of the inmates.”