Set Up  Farms As Correctional Centres Across Nigeria – Expert

The founder, Hope Alive Training Academy, and an agriculture expert, Mrs Olutomi Olatoye, has emphasised the need for the setting up of farms as correctional centres all over the country.
She stated this while featuring as a guest speaker during the 2022 annual conference of the Prison and Hospital Ministry of the Redeemed Christian Church of God with the theme: “Fresh Air For Freedom, held at the Redemption Camp, Ogun State.
Olatoye, who is also the founder of Centre for Urban Agricultural Development, noted that more than ever before, Nigerians, including prison inmates, must begin to plant something to prevent hunger.
Listing the benefits of correctional farm centres, she said it would be a way of raising ‘farmers behind bars’, helping inmates acquire a skill for life after prison.
According to  her, “a work and earn model could even be developed for the inmates through the correctional farms”, adding that “inmates would learn handwork while raising their food and herbs on the farms”.
She also advised members of the prison and hospital ministry to also grow their own food and herbs in their backyard to reduce the amount families spend on food.
Olatoye concluded by encouraging planting of fruit trees in all the correctional centres across Nigeria, stating that this will afford inmates to have access to fruits, saying it will also help to boost their immunity.