By Cross Udo, Abuja
The Coalition of Southeast Youths (CESYD) has commended the Federal Government for opening a garment and shoe factory in Abia State.
The youths have also challenged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to replicate the Aba factory across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, and synchronize this initiative with the Bank of Industry (BoI) ‘s MSME empowerment drive to ensure that inmates who earn these vocational skills can easily access loans to establish their businesses after they have ended their time at the custodial centre.
CSEYD, in a statement yesterday signed by its coordinator, Wisdom Akunna, said it viewed the initiative as a testament to the fact that the government and its agencies can serve as vehicles for transforming the lives of our citizens.
It further stated that the factory and the furniture factory at Borno State, which the Interior Ministry recently launched under the Nigeria Correctional Services, NCoS, will offer inmates top-tier vocational training, giving them valuable tools to earn a living both inside and outside the correctional facilities.
According to the statement, “The successful launching of this project has lifted the hearts of the youths in Abia State and the Igbo nation at large, as this singular project will trigger the local and national economy; cut down/save the nation hundreds of millions of taxpayers money that would have been expended on kitting our officers/men of the correctional services. The buzz that this will trigger for allied industries can only be imagined.
“With today’s launch of a brand-new Garment & Shoe Factory in Aba, Abia State, by the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, this ground-breaking initiative carried out in partnership with Erojim Nig Ltd, has unfettered over 100 years of colonial punitive reformatory system usually imposed on inmates which the colonial masters bequeathed us.
“CESYD is proud that the Interior Ministry under Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has provided a breath of fresh air as our custodial centres now have for the first time in many decades, an opportunity for inmates to be equipped to better our society rather than finding their ways back to any of the 240 custodial centres.
“CSYED restates our previous call on the Federal Government of Nigeria and the National Assembly to aggressively support the silent revolution within the Interior Ministry in the greater public interest by increasing budgetary allocations to the NCoS and the Interior Ministry.
“We in the CESYD believe the best way to get even better results out of a performing Ministry or agency is by paying much more attention to such a Ministry.
“We reiterate our earlier call that Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and his team be encouraged to complete the transformation process agencies under that Ministry are currently undergoing. It is no longer news that custodial centres in Nigeria have suffered from several decades of government abandonment.
“CESYD views this initiative as a testament to the fact that government and its agencies can serve as vehicles for transforming the lives of our citizens. This factory and the furniture factory at Borno State, also recently launched by the Interior Ministry under the NCoS, will offer inmates top-tier vocational training, giving them valuable tools to earn a living both inside and outside the correctional facilities.
“Finally, we challenge the President Tinubu administration to massively replicate the Aba factory across the 36 states and the FCT, as well as synchronize this initiative with the MSME empowerment drive of the Bank of Industry (BoI) to ensure that inmates who earn these vocational skills can easily access loans to establish their businesses after they must have ended their time at the custodial centre.”
