48 Nigerian Prisoners Pass O Level Examination

Forty-eight prisoners who are awaiting trial at the Ikoyi Prisons have passed the November/December 2013 General Certificate of Examination (GCE).

Deputy Controller of Prisons, Mr. Emmanuel Bamidele, who made the disclosure on Monday while receiving members of the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), said 54 other inmates also wrote the examination but were unsuccessful.


“When they finally regain their freedom, they can seek admission into any university of their choice, since they are awaiting trial,” Bamidele told the NBA members, who were visiting the prison to present gifts to the inmates as part of activities marking the 2014 Law Week.

“The prison has the ‘Rehabilitation, Restoration and Reintegration’ programme, and one of its key objectives is to provide education opportunities for the inmates, so that they can be useful to themselves and the society after leaving the prison.”

He also spoke on the congestion of the prison by awaiting-trial inmates, saying that of the total 1,761 inmates at the prison, only 186 are convicted. The remaining 1,575, he lamented, have been awaiting trial for between five and 13 years.

Chairman of NBA Ikeja, Mr. Monday Ubani, assured the awaiting-trial inmates that they are only a few months away from their freedom, as Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, would soon visit the prison to grant them parole.

“Believe me, this travail would soon be over for some of you, when the Chief Judge visits in May,” he said.

“NBA is in contact with the chief judge and the Ministry of Justice, and we know that names of those to be released are being compiled.”