There was wild jubilation at the Kuje Medium Prison as no fewer than 71 inmates of the prison inmates were presented with their November/December West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) certificates.
Meanwhile, the prison population now stands at 781 with awaiting trial inmates hitting a total number of 570 while the number of convicted inmates stands at 211.
Speaker after speaker, some of the inmates candidates that sat for the examination at the Kuje Prison Centre explained how their misfortune has turned into fortune, admitting that they would not have had the opportunity with the distractions outside the prison.
According to the statistics, out of a total number of 74 candidates registered in the November/December 2015 WAEC Examination, 71 candidates sat for the examination while three candidates were discharged before the commencement of the exam.
“Out of the 71 candidates that sat for the examination, 65 results were released while six results were held by the exam board. Out of the 65 released result, the Kuje Prison center recorded a total number of 38 distinctions, 166 Credits, 211 passes and 111 failures,” the Education Desk Officer, Adikwu A Owoicho, noted.
Enumerating the challenges facing the inmates from exploiting education opportunities, the authority said: “We appreciate the efforts of all the churches, NGOs like NUGA BEST, and individuals that made the programme a reality since its inception from 2010 through their countless support and prayers.
“We still want to point out the following challenges affecting the overall performance of the candidates.
Lack of teachers in the various subject areas like mathematics, English, Chemistry, CRK/IRS, Geography, History, Accounting, Government etc. Txt books in the above mentioned subjects, teaching materials while board, markers, birds, pencils, A4 papers etc, plastic chairs and tables,” he noted.