Comptroller-General Tasks Officers On Agriculture

The Comptroller-General, Nigeria Prisons Service, Mr Olushola Ogundipe says prison farms and agricultural projects should attain levels that will ensure total inmate reformation.

Declaring open the 6th Biennial Agricultural Farm Conference in Enugu recently, Ogundipe said that agriculture remained a vital catalyst to achieving food security in Nigeria.

The comptroller general added that agriculture was also a catalyst for efficient use of inmates and high level production in prison farms.

Ogundipe, represented by Alhaji Isa Mohammed, Deputy Comptroller-General, Inmate Training and Productivity (ITP), said the conference was meant to review the activities of prison farm centres and assess their performance in 2010.

“The thrust of this conference being capacity building for prisoners is to enable them to live a self sustaining life on discharge.

“It is in line with this concept that l implore you to redouble your efforts toward skills acquisition programmes for inmates as l assure you of support to achieve these objectives,’’ he said.

Ogundipe said that no fewer than 10 additional farms were established with an improved revenue generation of N20 million against N16 million recorded in 2009.

He urged participants to attach importance to the deliberations arising from the conference with a view to putting new ideas into their farms.

In his address, Deputy Comptroller-General Isa Mohammed described the conference, with the theme, “Inmates Training in Agriculture: A Panacea to Inmate Recidivism’’ as appropriate and timely”.

He noted that the Directorate of Inmate Training and Productivity (ITP) was focusing on improved inmate skills acquisition with a view to making them productive for them to contribute positively to the society.

Isa, whose address was read by Alhaji Suleiman Arugungu, said that the agricultural unit of Prison Service not only train inmates but also contributing toward actualising the nation’s goal for food security and revenue generation.

Other senior officers in their goodwill messages urged the participants to impart the knowledge gained on their subordinates, for improved agricultural production and make discharged inmates self reliant.

The conference was attended by officers in-charge of prison farms in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.