The Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA) has welcomed the opening of a garment and shoe factory in Abia State, one of the nine Niger Delta states, saying the successful launch of the project has lifted the hearts of the youth in the state and by extension, the Niger Delta region.

It said the project will trigger the local and national economy, saving the nation hundreds of millions of taxpayers money that would have been expended on kitting officers/men of the correctional services.

“The buzz that this will trigger for allied industries can only be imagined”, the group stated.

A statement by the chairman, Bright Ngolo, the NDRA observed; “With today’s launch of the brand-new garment and shoe factory at Aba in Abia State by the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) through a groundbreaking initiative carried out in partnership with Erojim Nigeria Limited, decades of fetters around genuine empowerment and reformation of inmates who have to go through our correctional centres and providing them with the skills they need to start afresh and rebuild psycho-socially and psychologically has been birthed.

“Interestingly, this heartwarming achievement is coming on the heels of the opening of a class-act furniture showroom in Borno State by the NCoS”.

The group called for increased budgetary allocation for the NCoS to increase its impact in rehabilitation of prison inmates.

“NDRA restate our previous call on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to, as a matter of urgent public interest, further oxygenate the silent revolution taking place with the custodial centres by increasing budgetary allocations to the NCoS and, indeed, the Interior Ministry.

“We in the NDRA believe that the best way to get even better results out of a performing ministry or agency is by paying such a ministry more attention. We therefore reiterate our earlier call that Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and his team be seriously encouraged to completely rebuild and transform our decayed custodial centres owing to several years of criminal neglect.

“For us in the NDRA, this initiative is a testament to the fact that government and its agencies can actually serve as vehicles for transformation of lives of our citizens. This factory and the furniture factory in Borno State will offer inmates top-tier vocational training, giving them valuable tools to earn a living both inside and outside the correctional facilities,” Ngolo said.

He added that one strategy that the current Federal Government must adopt to dissuade increasing vices among the large youth population, is by multiplying the shape and size of vocational skills acquisition and trainings.

“This will help shut the gates of our custodial centres to the youth and cut down the number of inmates within the 240 custodial centres across the nation,” Ngolo further stressed.

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