FG rejigs training curriculum for Correctional Service

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA – The Federal Government has taken steps to rejig the curriculum of the Nigerian Correctional Service NCoS following the expansion of its mandate from just a prison system to a correctional service.

Accordingly, the Service has commenced a three-day workshop to review and update the training curriculum for its institutions, aiming to align it with modern security challenges and international best practices.

Usually done every five years, the last curriculum review was in 2019, same year the Nigerian Correctional Service Act was passed into law, expanding the scope of its mandate.

Declaring the workshop open in Abuja, Controller-General of Corrections, Sylvester Nwakuche, said the initiative is part of his vision to reposition the service through capacity development.

He emphasized the importance of continuous training and retraining for personnel in the “ever-changing security landscape.”

Represented by the Deputy Controller General in charge of Training and Staff Development, Amoran Olanrewaju, the CGC said; “This curriculum review exercise aims to harmonize, modernize, and standardize our training frameworks in line with emerging realities, national security priorities and international best practices”.

He noted that special attention will be given to critical areas, including inmate classification, inter-agency collaboration, the use of technology in corrections and human rights-based operational standards.

The goal, he added, is to equip staff with up-to-date knowledge, practical skills, and a strong sense of discipline rooted in humane correctional values.

The workshop brings together course officers from various NCoS training institutions.

Nwakuche encouraged participants to present their current course outlines and instructional methods to ensure an evidence-based approach in developing the new curriculum.

The Controller-General expressed confidence that the collective efforts of the participants would result in a modern, inclusive, and high-quality curriculum that will transform the service’s training institutions and position the NCoS as a leader in correctional excellence on the African continent.

A professor of Criminology, Etanibi Alemika who was one of the resource persons said the workshop was necessary because the Correctional Service Act was passed in 2019 and it consists of innovations and provisions that require constant training.

“Before, it was Prisons, that is Penal. Now it is both Penal and Correctional. So the syllabus must also reflect both components of the Service’s mandate”, he said.

DCG Amoran on his part said as society evolves, Correctional personnel must be in tune with evolutions in the criminal justice system.

He said with the rapid development of Artificial intelligence AI, the Service cannot afford to lag behind in acquiring knowledge in that direction.

Two of the participants Superintendents of Corrections Jibrin Kabiru, who is the Course Officer of Correctional Training School, Kaduna and Chukwunonso Ude, Course Coordinator at the Correctional Service Training School, Enugu expressed appreciation to management for the training, promising to implement in their various institutions, all that they would learn in the course of the training.

The 3-day workshop on the Review and Development of Training Curriculum for Correctional Service Training Institutions had as its theme, “Enhancing Professional Standards through Curriculum Reform: Building Capacity for a Modern Correctional Workforce”.

The post FG rejigs training curriculum for Correctional Service appeared first on Vanguard News.