PARTICIPATION OF PRISONERS IN VOCATIONAL SKILLS ACQUISITION PROGRAMMES FOR THEIR REHABILITATION AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
Abba, Mannir (Ph.D)
Department of Adult Education and Extension Services,
Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria.
Mbagwu, F.O (Ph.D); Igwe, Ngozi & Ogbonnaya, Kingsley . A
Department of Adult Education and Extra-mural Studies,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
Abstract
The study focused on participation of prisoners in vocational skills acquisition programmes for their rehabilitation and sustainable economic growth in Kaduna State. Two research questions and two null hypothesis guided the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 2,262 respondents. The sample size of the study was 351 respondents comprising all the 85 prison officials and 266 convicted prisoners of the Kaduna Convict Prison purposively selected for the study. The instrument used for data collection was self-structured questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on the participation of prisoners in vocational skills acquisition programmes (QPAPIVSAP). The instrument was subjected to content validation by three experts. The reliability coefficient for the instrument was 0.85. The data collected was analysed using mean and standard deviation, while the null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test statistics. The findings of the study revealed among others, that VSA programmes for prisoners were available in Kaduna Convicts’ prison, there were prison inmates trainees but majority participated more in carpentry, joinery work and knitting skills training in the study area. However, some challenges were revealed in the study which includes inadequate in-service training of personnel to upgrade and update themselves and inadequate modern VSAT facilities in the prisons among others., Based on these findings, it was concluded that the participation of prisoners in VSAT programmesin all the prisons in Nigeria, would make substantial impact towards their self improvement and the country’s sustainable economic growth and development. Thus, the study recommended among others that the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) should be adequately funded so that VSAT programmes can be extended to other convict and satellite’s prisons and that prisoners should be encouraged to also participate in the other available vocational trades in the prisons and provision of modern VSAT facilities for the socio-economic empowerment and sustainable economic growth of the state and the country at large.
Keywords: Participation, Vocational Skill Acquisition Programmes, Rehabilitation, Adult Prisoners, Economic Growth.