An inmate of the Enugu Maximum Security prison, Chukwununso Nomeh, has emerged the overall best post-graduate student of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prisons Special Study Centres nationwide. The spokesperson of the Nigeria Prison Service in Enugu State, Mr Chukwuemeka Monday, made the disclosure in a statement issued in Enugu yesterday. Monday said the inmate, who was convicted and sentenced in 2010, gained admission for a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA). He said that Nomeh graduated with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.80. He recalled that an ex-convict of the same centre, Theophilus Adeniyi, had emerged the best graduating student in 2014 while in incarceration, and was currently pursuing his Ph.D. in one of the country’s universities.

The desk officer of Enugu Study Centre, CSP Kelvin Iloafonsi, said two other inmates also graduated from the NOUN post-graduate school, adding that one of them had since been released. The controller of prison in the state, Ndubuisi Ogbodo, urged the inmates to enrol in NOUN and embrace the transformation mantra of the controller general of prison, Ja’afaru Ahmed. Ogbodo said the transformation agenda focused on training and retraining of both staff and inmates.

The controller of prisons also called on the public to accept ex-convicts as reformed and responsible members of society. He said that their continuous rejection would only lead them back to crime. (NAN)