Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the Nigeria Police Force, the judiciary and prisons should be reformed to reflect modern standards obtainable in developed countries.
Obasanjo was quoted as saying this at his investiture as the Life Grand Patron of the Prison Rehabilitation Mission International (PREMI) by its Chairman Oba Adedapo Tejuosho, the Osile Oke Ona in Abeokuta.
The former president further said that the ill-treatment of citizens of any country could best be known through visitations to their prison yards.
These are contained in a statement signed Dr Olusegun Ajayi, Secretary, Fund Raising Committee and Dr Hannah Dada-Adegbola, member of the Central Working Committee of PREMI, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abeokuta on Sunday.
”If reformation must to be achieved in Nigerian prisons, these three public sectors namely the police, the judiciary, and the prison must be seriously reformed.
”A defined reformation of the country’s prisoners can be achieved right from when a criminal is arrested by the police and through the necessary investigation process.”
He further said that the reform could be achieved through Public Private Participation (PPP) and pledged to contribute his quota to the reformation of Nigeria’s prisons.
The statement also quoted the Director-General of PREMI, Mr Bishop Williams, as saying that the organisation would strive to make career in crime unattractive to ex-convicts, facilitate employment opportunities for them, and ensure proper reformation, rehabilitation and settlement of ex-convicts.
According to Williams, the organisation has been engaged in the training of prison officials and warders to enhance their competency in humane treatment of prison inmates.
The director-general said the organisation, formed in 1982, would contribute its quota to the achievement of the nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS).
He expressed appreciation to Obasanjo for giving him state pardon while in office as president of the country, which he said removed the stigma of criminality from his human record.
Williams thanked Obasanjo for being the first donor of N5 million to the organisation at the foundation laying ceremony of its rehabilitation centre.
Oba Tejuosho said that the organisation was set up following “a directive from God”, adding and that each member had a challenge to contribute his best to improve the well-being of prison inmates in the country.
He further said that the mission of the organisation included the construction of rehabilitation centre in Ibadan by June 2013 and the investiture of the 36 state governors as PREMI’s patrons.
A member of board, Mr Sulayman Dawodu, said in the statement that care centre in Ikorodu would be refurbished and advocacy programmes for inmates as well as visitation to prisons.
Dawodu said that the forum was used to remember the late Alhaji G.N. Hamza, a foremost industrialist, sport lover and outstanding philanthropist, who made immense contribution to the development of the organisation. (NAN)