By Tekena Amieyeofori
Controller of Corrections, FCT Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Christopher Jen, has stressed that increased investment in human capacity development is key to reducing youth involvement in violent crime and economic sabotage.
Jen made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at a summit on youth unemployment and national insecurity organised by the National Council for Civil Society Organisations in partnership with the Vision-One Leadership Initiative.
He explained that human capacity development entails scaling up skills-based education, vocational training, and entrepreneurship programmes for vulnerable young Nigerians. According to him, many youths are drawn into criminal violence not out of desire but due to the absence of social safety nets and meaningful employment opportunities.
“These young Nigerians do not inherently desire conflict with the law. When social safety nets are absent, crime can tragically become a perceived means to an end, especially in the absence of meaningful employment,” Jen said.
He noted that this philosophy guides the NCS’s shift from punishment to rehabilitation and reintegration. Under his watch, the FCT Command has produced inmates who earned 45 Bachelor’s degrees, six Master’s degrees, and one PhD.
“Human capacity development is at the heart of our transformative mandate,” Jen stated. “We combine formal education with vocational skills training, psychological counselling, and moral re-orientation for inmates. Many of our graduates and skilled ex-inmates now run small businesses, while others mentor at-risk youth in their communities as living proof that reformation works and that no life is beyond redemption.”