Archbishop Donates Skills Acquisition Centre to Nigerian Correctional Service 

The Archbishop of Onitsha, Archdiocese and Metropolitan of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, Most Reverend Valerian Maduka Okeke, recently built and donated skills acquisition centre to Nigerian Correctional Service, Medium Security Custodial Centre, in Onitsha, Anambra State.

The archbishop who also marked his 70th birthday and the unveiling of the centre with a holy mass, during the homily, disclosed that ways to express gratitude include actions of thanksgiving to God, alms giving, other works of mercy, kindness, forgiveness, among others, drawing analogy with David and Saul in the Holy Bible.

While identifying gratitude as an obligation, the archbishop revealed that they have started schools in the centre with the recognition and approval of Anambra State government, as well as running skills acquisition programs.

Archbishop Okeke also disclosed that the aim is to harness talents and skills, so that by the time many of the inmates serve out their terms, they must have increased in knowledge or skill, and asked those who committed one crime or the other for which they were remanded, to turn a new leaf after serving.

On his part, the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo Governor Soludo who also laid the foundation stone for the secondary school that will be built in the center, while commissioning the skills acquisition centre, said, he was impressed by the archbishop’s commitment to helping inmates at the correctional center.

He said the archbishop’s work was a reminder that everyone deserves a second chance.

Soludo promised to pay the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), exam fees for 30 inmates who are preparing to write the exams.

He also promised to install solar panels and inverters to supply electricity to the center, which has a population of 1,125 inmates.

“I am here today to celebrate the Archbishop of Onitsha for his commitment to helping those who are often forgotten,” Soludo said.

The Governor advised the inmates to take advantage of the skills acquisition program at the center so that they can be productive members of society when they are released.

“I urge you to take the skills acquisition program seriously. When you are released from prison, you can use these skills to build a better life for yourself and your family,” Soludo said.

Also speaking at the event, the Comptroller General, Nigeria Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, represented by his deputy in-charge of Inmates Training and Productivity, Sylvester Nwakuche, said that the skill acquisition center gives impetus to the reformation and reintegration of inmates, pointing out that the establishment of the skill acquisition center is in line with the mandate of the correctional Service.

He urged the inmates to take advantage of the acquisition centre, assuring of putting it to good use.

He also commended Governor Soludo for his payment of external examination fees for inmates taking the examination and pleaded with other governors and good spirited individuals to emulate Soludo.

Meanwhile, former Governor of the state, Chris Nwabueze Ngige, while speaking said he built one cell and renovated a portion of the perimeter fence even as he commended the archbishop for marking 70 years.

Earlier, the Papal Nuncio to Czech Republic, Most Rev. Thaddeus Okolo, recalled that the celebrant was his contemporary in the seminary school, disclosing that he was brilliant which earned him his present position.

Donation of food, soft drinks, toiletries, mattresses, and personal effects, as well as cutting of cake, and presentation of award to the archbishop as the grand patron of inmates in Nigeria, climaxed the event.