Enugu, NIGERIA — The Uju Aninneji Foundation, founded by Nollywood super actress, Ms Ujunwa Aninneji, has facilitated the release of two prisoners from Enugu Medium Security Custodial Centre, Enugu State.
Aninneji who disclosed this yesterday during the release of the prisoners, said that the gesture was part of the foundation’s legacy project.
She explained that the gesture to facilitate the release of the inmates is out of her love and compassion for the less-privileged, especially those who were in prison for bail able offenses.
She also regretted that many are thrown in the prison for frenzy reasons and trumped-up charged.
She said the initiative to visit prisons across the country and facilitate the release of petty criminals and innocent people are to rehabilitate, empower and reintegrate ex-convicts into the society through a wide range of advocacy, representation, trainings, and support programmes.
According to her, “after securing their release from the correctional centre, depending on the crimes, we would rehabilitate and through partners, we establish them to make sure they are doing something, we monitor them to ensure easily reintegration into the society.
“Since the inception of our organization, we have carried out various medical and humanitarian outreaches and sponsored the release of inmates with minor crime charges in major correctional facilities across Nigeria.
“The rehabilitative process is also social processes; they require our assistance,” she said, explaining that prison environment which is characterised by control, fear, stress, passivity and aggression required habilitative efforts by NGOs volunteer foundation such as Uju Aninneji Foundation which she said has provided instruments in helping prisoners find and commit to a path of personal change.
Conversely, if, both during and after incarceration, the society and the families disown offenders, as may be natural impulse, the chances of rehabilitation are minimal and we are setting up offenders to harm and be harmed.
She regretted that prison education in Nigeria is in a poor state following a long-term decline in both the quality of education and the number of prisoners participating in learning or training.
“Education in prisons should be improved upon; it improves the wellbeing of prisoners and increase their employment prospects after prison terms.
Speaking with journalists, one of the release inmates, Umaru Musa, from Adamawa State thanked the foundation for the kind gesture, saying “Is only God that will bless the foundation. May God continue blessing them.”