They were excited as they donned their purple graduation gowns. Seeing them can make you doubt whether they were once social miscreants or area boys. They had indeed been reformed.
Thugs who were once thorns in the flesh and of the members of their communities had been turned into skilled and respectable youngmen. Thanks to the Lagos State Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development which runs the Rehabilitation and Skills Acquisition Centre.
Tekunle Island separated from the rest of Lagos by water and which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ibeju Local Government Area is the location of the centre. The centre which was commissioned in November 2005 is saddled with the responsibility of turning the lives of social deviants around through counselling and vocational training.
The vocations which the Rehab Centre offers for training include carpentry, electrical installations, vulcanising, tailoring, shoe-making, barbing, agricultural practice.
City Update learnt that there are two ways by which people are admitted for training. The first is that officials of the Lagos State Government pick the area boys on the streets, bundle them into a vehicle and later transport them by water to Tekunle Island. The other method is that parents who are uncomfortable with the nefarious ways of their children report to the authorities who investigate the matter. When they find out that there is a basis for reformation, such youngsters are first taken to Majidun and Isheri Rehabilitations centres where they are first detoxified before being brought to Tekunle island.
For those brought to the Tekunle, it is a land of no return for at least the period of time their training lasts. It is indeed impossible for anyone to escape because there is a sophisticated security and monitoring device.
However, one of the trainees at the centre told City Update that there was a time some of them tried to escape but they were caught.
Last Thursday, a graduation ceremony was held for 45 of the trainees. On this day, they were freely released to leave the island.
The 45 graduands were the second batch the centre has produced. Three trainees graduated in carpentry, seven in electrical installation, eight became certificated in vulcanising and another eight in tailoring.
Shoe making produced five graduands while Cane and Fibre had only one. There were three graduands in Barbing. 10 people graduated in various agricultural practices such as snailing, poultry and vegetable farming.
At the ceremony, each of the graduating trainees was given empowerment tools to start his trade apart from those who learnt agricultural practices. They were absorbed by the Agriculture Department of the Lagos State Government for employment.
Also, each graduand was presented with a certificate and cash of N10,000 as a take off grant.
At the ceremony, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, whose speech was read by his Special Adviser on Youth, Sports and Social Development, Dr. Dolapo Badru, said: “At the inception of the Rehabilitation Centre in 2005, 39 trainees were brought in having been detoxified at the Majidun and Isheri Rehabilitation Centres, but today, the population of beneficiaries of the programme has strangely risen to 136 out of which 30 trainees had graduated and another 45 trainees being presented today for yet another graduation. These are trainees who have been well-groomed and certified to have acquired various skills from the numerous trades, to be self reliant as against being a liability to the society and in expectation that they would henceforth contribute to the economic growth of the state.”
The Governor said government had put in place adequate arrangements to monitor the graduands in their various settlements. He further called on non-government organisations to support “the noble programme of the state at rehabilitating the youth of our society.”
The Principal of the Centre, Mr. Olabode Ajao, while delivering his welcome address said the programme was consistent with the objective of the Lagos State government.
“One of the 10 Point Agenda of this administration is security. What we are doing today is a plus to this objective. As we are empowering these trainees we taking them away from the streets, where they would have been a menace to the society. By giving these youths vocations we are making the streets safe for the inhabitants and reducing the risk of being attacked by hoodlums and gangsters”.
City Update spoke with some of the trainees both graduands and those who were yet to complete their training. All of them said they had been purged of their vices”
One of the them was 34-year Fodunrin Olabinrin, a holder of HND in Business Administration and a Microsoft Certified professional who was brought to the Centre because of his love for Indian hemp. Olabinrin was the best graduating student and he learnt shoe-making. He said: “I believe God designed this programme. I call it second chance. I have achieved so much through this programme. It has brought out the creative ability in me. Most important, I have been reconciled to God.” Olabinrin also said that he had been purged of his desire for Indian hemp.
Titiloye Atalabi, 32, graduated from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), and he is still learning Electrical Installation at the Centre.. He said he was brought to the Centre by his older sibling.
“I was very stubborn. I was smoking Indian hemp. I mixed up with bad friends,” he said. Atalabi said he was a cultist on campus and once raped a girl. But he minced no words when he said he had been purged of his vices. He said there were counsellors in the school. Atalabi said he would soon be leaving to study for Master’s degree.
Thirty year old Mudabuchi Ugho, was an apprentice vulcaniser before he was brought by his father to the centre. He said he was involved in a violent fight with fellow apprentice at their workshop and he was a drunk.
“The idea of having such centre of rehabilitation and skills acquisition is a good one but more of them should be established in other parts of the state said one of the guests at the ceremony”
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