News: ICLI COURTESY VISIT TO NOA

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NOA, NGO TO RE-INTEGRATE FREED PRISONERS INTO THE SOCIETY THROUGH ``SOCIAL JUSTICE DESK`` INITIATIVE

 The National Orientation Agency (NOA) says it has re- strategises its services by establishing ``Social Justice Desk`` initiative, aimed at re-integrating freed prisoners into the society.

Mr Garba Abar, Director-General of NOA, who made the disclosure when the officials of Intercontinental Leadership Initiative (ILI), an NGO paid a courtesy visit on him in Abuja, pledged collaboration with ILI to achieve its aims.

``The National  Orientation has established desk which we called the ``Social Justice Desk``, which many people do not even seem to know that it is existing.

``And we are working with a lot of partner especially civil society organisations and the religious leaders that will go into prisons mainly for the purposes of advocacy and sensitization mainly at the lower levels of local governments and the state directorates.

``And of course when chief executives or chief judge of the states is going on prison inspection, we also follow.

``Not only that, just as we are looking toward that direction, we are also looking at the larger society.

``The social vices that we see with the larger society are far more than what we see in the prisons.

``Talking about drug addiction, talking about prostitution, talking about begging, talking about lack of self-reliance, we are talking about so many social problems. ``

Speaking earlier on reasons for the visit, Mr Stafford Obisong, Chairman/BOT of ILI said the organisation’s mission was to seek synergy with NOA to give orientation to the society on leadership role, and to the youths in particular.

According to Obisong, the ILI has plans to also reach out to the inmates in confinement to address them on the need to turn away from social vices, give them hope on re-integration into the general public.

Already we have in place educational strategy to reach out to the prisoners.

``Not just to visit them, not just to empower them, but also we have already personnel, whose specialty is to reaching out to people with such challenges, inmates in confinement.

And we want to begin a process whereby we will able to pick up the leaders among them because even in their cell where they belong to, there are some leaders there.

``And so we will be able to pick out those who have the leadership quality, we want to begin to re-orientate them, change their mindset and make them know that they are still useful to the society.

``Not just educate them on their leadership role, we want to see how we can help them integrate back into the society and add value to the society at large. ``

The ICLI official said the organization was also intended to use its platform to engage Nigerians youths in the programes that would impact positively in the society.