By Etse Kassim, Abuja
An inmate of the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, Lagos, has been admitted into a doctorate programme of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
The prisoner, according to the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu, is currently undergoing studies for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme in Criminology Studies.
The VC made this known in Abuja on Monday while declaring open this year’s International Conference of Social Sciences (ICOSS 2018) hosted by the University, adding that NOUN provides education free of charge to prisoners.
“We provide education to prisoners free of charge, and we are proud of the fact that just some months ago, one of the prisoners at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison registered for his PhD in Criminology Studies.
“And when we asked him why? He said he wanted to understand what he did and why he did that,” the VC said.
Speaking on the conference, with the theme, ‘Imaged or Imagined: Africa and the Contemporary World- Issues in Security, Governance and Sustainable Development’, Adamu said the over 200 papers that would be presented by participants from the 50 institutions in Nigeria and abroad, during the three-day programme, would go a long way in addressing the problems in Africa.
Also speaking, Horace Campbel,the keynote speaker and distinguished Kwame Nkrumah chair, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, called on leaders in Africa to mobilise the resources in the continent to chart a better way for the people.
Campbel, who spoke on the topic, ‘Saving Lake Chad and the Rejuvenation of Africa : Beyond the Imaginary,’ decried the incessant gas flaring and bush-burning in the continent, which have resulted in massive environmental degradation, just as he called for collective efforts to arrest the fast dwindling fortunes of Lake Chad.