By Nitoni Osain, Yenagoa
Lazarus Nzimiro, a National Youth Service Corps member serving with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has called on the Bayelsa Government, the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Government to support a prison‑rehabilitation initiative he is championing through his Lazarus Nzimiro Foundation.
He stated this on friday, when he donated food items, recycled clothes, toiletries and personal effects, disinfectants, detergents, drugs and basic medical supplies to inmates at the Medium Security Custodian Centre, Okaka, Yenagoa.
According to him, the Project Beyond the Walls seeks to give succour to prison inmates who are most time abandoned by society.
He said: “when I was a student at the Department of Political Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka meanwhile Medichi was my classmate and CEO of Medichi Homes that was the first time I have been within the prison confines and that gave me a more broader perspective of the whole thing.
“It made me to know that there are people who are here who need to know that in as much as they are here people out there care about them that is why it is known as Project Bayond the Walls to give them that mindset
“That in as much as they are here they can actually dream that they can achieve things beyond this walls and this just the first phase of a two phase project initiative.
“What we are actually trying to achieve is at the end of the day to have a literacy and chess centre established not just here in Medium Security Custodian Centre, Okaka, Yenagoa,” he said.
The corps member, said the correctional system, which he described as “under‑funded,” houses inmates who are “the weakest links in our social‑security chain, neglect of the sector fuels insecurity.
He noted that over 17 jailbreaks have occurred in the past decade, including four this year that resulted in the deaths of prison officers and heightened community risk.
“My appeal is not only to Bayelsa State but also to the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Government: look at ways to incorporate this whole thing.
“If we do not help them, they will help themselves, and that becomes a social‑security issue.
“The initiative’s first phase involves establishing a literacy and chess centre at the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Okaka, Yenagoa and also envisioned similar centres in correctional facilities nationwide, drawing on models such as Brazil’s 2012 prison‑rehabilitation programme.
“We want to bring reading and activities like chess into the prisons. These will go a long way toward mental reformation and rehabilitation. My foundation is ready with ideas and structures; all we need is funding.
Also speaking, the Bayelsa Coordinator of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC Mrs. Obiageli Okpelifo commented Mr Lazarus Nsimiro for embarking on an initiative the would make a lasting impact of the community especially the inmates.
Represented by the Head of CDS, Mrs Kossy Ifekudu, Okpelifo enjoined other Corps members to emulate Nsimiro whose project aimed to positively touch lives.
Chief Superintendent of Corrections, Mohammed Mustafa who represented the Officer in Charge of the Medium Security Custodian Centre Okaka, ACC Ogundare Rasheed, thanked Nsimiro for bringing hope to the inmates.
He pledged to ensure that the items brought will be utilized in the correctional center.