....As South-South holds Zonal Conference
A religious group known as Prison Fellowship Nigeria(PFN) has called on the Federal and state governments to partner with the fellowship and upgrade infrastructure at the various correctional facilities in the country for the benefit of the inmates and the country.
The Executive Director of the fellowship Barr. Benson Iwuagwu ably represented by His Special Assistant on Administration, Barr. Niyi Sanusi made this call while speaking with newsmen during the 2023 Annual South-South Zonal Conference of the fellowship held at Word Family, 14 Duke Town Close, Off Atekong Drive, State Housing Estate, Calabar, Cross River State.
Sanusi explained that the government and society should support inmates and churches that go to correctional centers to visit inmates.
He noted that the Government should be interested in the prison ministry and that there are people who don't have plans to be in prison but they are labeled criminals and put behind bars.
Barr. Urged the Government to make the place conducive and everyone should support making the prison yard a better area, that even the highly placed in the society end up there.
He also pleaded that no one should stigmatize inmates who have served jail terms, for they have learned their lessons.
Also, the South-South Coordinator Otunba S. I. Onalaja ably represented by Apostle Collins T. Briggs noted that the challenges in prison evangelism are huge, and no financial support can be enough to meet its challenges.
He added that prison fellowship is the biggest fellowship in the world and the field is big but laborers are few.
He explained further that what he called success in prison fellowship is when people are partnering in your signature programs.
He concluded that for the fellowship the program is volunteerism, for Christ is to win souls, and for the inmates is restoring justice, reformation, transformation, and a better life.
He also pleaded with all state Governments to partner with the prison fellowship to establish a Center that will help to retrain inmates after their jail term.
In his remark, the Chief Superintendent of the Correctional Center, Chaplain Christoper Ibor Ebri acknowledged the various contributions made by the various religious organizations to affect the souls of inmates in the centers across Nigeria.
He added that the correctional center is restricted and it is not everyone that is permitted to have access. To have access you must belong to a church or organization, that is duly registered, He concluded.
The Conferences were held across all six geopolitical zones of Nigeria simultaneously.
Earlier in a paper presented by Chaplain Peter Gaskin, he noted that Jesus Christ was the first prisoner of neglect by Chaplains and Volunteers. "I was...in prison, and ye visited me not..." Matt 25:43.
Also in a paper by Pastor Effanga Ita, he noted that in Nigeria the origin of modern prison services was established in 1861 by the British colony government. With the declaration of Lagos as a British colony in 1900 other prisons were established here in Calabar, Onitsha, Benin City, and Sapele.
The Theme of the conference was from Glory to Glory.
Comments
Post a Comment