Stanbic IBTC Sets Up Vocational Centre for Young Inmates

Oluchi Chibuzor

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has donated a vocational centre to one of its host communities.

According to a statement, the Finance Department of the organisation recently built a fully equipped vocational centre at the Borstal Training Institute (BTI), Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of its Corporate Social Investment (CSI) initiative.

The BTI is the Nigerian Correctional Service’s juvenile arm, set up to correct, train, reform, rehabilitate, and reintegrate young offenders. The vocational centre built and donated by the Finance Department of Stanbic IBTC at BTI in Abeokuta, is a facility where young male inmates are exposed to various skills acquisition trainings like carpentry, tailoring and ICT.

The BTI facility at Abeokuta is one of the three borstals in Nigeria, and it serves the entire Southern part of the country. The other two are located in Kaduna and Kwara States.

Speaking on the rationale behind the donation, Head, Sustainability, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Omolola Fashesin, said: “At Stanbic IBTC, we pay strong attention to empowerment, being one of the pillars around which our CSI initiative revolves. We delight in seeing people succeed and advance financially, and we empower them to be able to make and act on economic decisions.”

She added: “To achieve societal and economic empowerment, young people need the skills and resources to compete in markets, as well as fair and equal access to economic institutions. This is what we provide at Stanbic IBTC. It is the beginning of a cumulative process that will allow these young men to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to succeed.”

Appreciating the staff of Stanbic IBTC’s Finance Department for the positive contributions to the lives of the inmates, Comptroller of Corrections, Ogun State Command, Mojeed Adeniran, noted that the donation would help the skill development of the trainees, as correctional centres serve to correct and build the capacities of the inmates.

Also, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative, Ahmed Adetola Kazeem was quoted in the statement to have urged other corporate organisations to match the commitment to social and economic growth, as displayed by Stanbic IBTC Holdings.

He noted that the donation would help transform the lives of young inmates at the facility, empowering them to be better citizens of the country while contributing their quota to the nation’s development.