Eket Federal Constituency Media Professionals Partners Correctional Center on Free Legal Aid, Reorientation Programme for Inmates

Eket Federal Constituency Media Professionals Partners Correctional Center on Free Legal Aid, Reorientation Programme for Inmates

…46 inmates awaiting trials since 2023 – Station Officer In-Charge

In a practical demonstration of humanitarian service and commitment to social development, Eket Federal Constituency Media Professionals have launched plans to facilitate free legal support for inmates of Eket Medium Security Correctional Center.

The initiative was unveiled today 1st September, 2026, during a visit by the members of the forum to the custodial facility, Eket Local Government.

Speaking during the visit, the Chairman of EFCMP, Comr. Enobong Nsima, disclosed that the forum is aware that there are inmates awaiting trials, persons detained for minor offences that did not justify prolonged imprisonment, those unable to perfect bail because of finance.

He added that the programme will not end with securing their release, but will extend to reintegration, organising a reorientation and skills acquisition programme to enable them live responsibly and be engaged without the chances of returning behind bars.

‘’we want to partner with the Eket Medium Security Correctional Center to help inmates who are incarcerated for offences that did not justify their prolonged imprisonment gain their freedom, reunite with their families and be reintegrated into the society’’.

‘’we will not only end with at securing their freedom, but we will also plan programmes for them like skills acquisition and reorientation programme to engage them to be useful to the society. We will work on them to ensure they don’t return here again’’, he added.

‘’we want to decongest the facility’’, he declared.

In his response, the Officer In-Charge of Eket Medium Correctional Security Center, CSC Samuel Bassey, expressed gratitude for the visit and described the intervention as an answered prayers.

He commended the partnership and forum’s commitment to service, urging members to sustain such efforts aimed at helping society.

Speaking on the transition from Prison to Correctional Center, CSC Bassey, explained that the change reflects a shift from punitive measures to rehabilitation and character transformation.

“Punitive aspects alone have not really given us what we want. The new nomenclature accommodates several aspects that can be explored to transform character, including addressing psychological defects,” he said.

The Officer-In-Charge, stated that the Eket Custodial Center, which covers 18 courts across 9 Local Government Areas, has remained peaceful, adding that the facility partners with NGOs, religious bodies, and educational institutions to address moral decadence.

He cited the affiliation of Ikot Ekpene Correctional Center with the National Open University of Nigeria as an example of the education component, and disclosed that the center runs skills acquisition programmes in barbing, electrical works, auto mechanics, and auto-electricals for convicted inmates.

“We don’t engage awaiting trial inmates in skills training because they may be released at any time. We focus on those with clear sentences so we can complete the training cycle,” he explained.
“Once they are trained and reintegrated, it helps to avert recidivism. They will not return to crime.”

He, lamented that many productive youths remain locked up at government expense, stressing that such energy should be channeled into nation-building.

Speaking on effort to get support for facility maintenance, CSC Samuel Bassey, disclosed that they have made frantic efforts by writing to the authority, requesting for operational vehicles but haven’t received any response, appealing to government at all levels, corporate organisations, non-governmental organisations, philanthropists, etc, to come to their aid as the issue is very worrisome not only to the inmates but also to those working in the facility.

He noted that the last vehicle that was donated to the facility was during Governor Godswill Akpabio led administration. He pointed out that he has written series of letters requesting for support but none is yielding results.

Bassey further stated that some of the roofs in the facility have been totally worn out due to the heavy rain that have been experienced in the southern part of the country recently thereby exposing some of the inmates to severe atmospheric conditions, stressing that there is nothing they can do on their own to remedy the situation.

According to the Officer In-Charge, CSC Samuel Bassey, “46 awaiting-trial inmates have been imprisoned for over since 2023, and the center is constrained in conveying them to court. Some of the inmates were brought from Nsit Ubium Local Government Area to the facility since 2023 and they have never visited the court for once due to lack of operational vehicles to convey them to court”.

“Sometimes we have to go to the local park to hire mini buses that will convey inmates to the court,” saying, “the decision is very risky as you must ensure that the person you engage is trustworthy.”

On feeding, he commended the Federal Government, stating that inmates are adequately fed, but within the context of correction. “We won’t overfeed you to make you comfortable. We are still conscious of the reason you are incarcerated,” he said.

The Officer-In-Charge appealed to government and well-meaning individuals to support the center in addressing its infrastructural and operational needs.

‘’the people should know the importance of this facility and its function. Every criminal, kidnapper, armed robber arrested and prosecuted here is a problem solved in the society and every inmate transformed is for the development of the society’’, he noted.