50 prison inmates will sit for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination ( UTME ), according to an official.
The Principal, Ikoyi Prisons School, Mr Idris Ibikunle, made this known yesterday in Lagos.
According to him, the school has prepared the inmates well for the examination as officials of the facility have stepped up efforts in ensuring an excellent performance.
“Right now, we are preparing about 50 of the inmates for the next UTME and by what I see, they are very determined to excel.
“We are yet to enrol them for the examination proper; we want to give a little more room for others interested so we can do the enrolment once.
“I am optimistic that we will enrol more than 50 of the inmates for the examination,’’ Ibikunle said.
Earlier this year, 59 inmates were registered for the 2017 UTME . Thirty-five passed and they are at various stages of admission placement into tertiary institutions.
Ibikunle also said 40 inmates were being prepared for the newly introduced 2018 January/February diet of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates.
According to him, prisons officials were committed to ensuring that the inmates had nothing to lose, academically, despite their incarceration.
The principal had at the maiden edition of the facility’s Education Award ceremony recently in Lagos, said 20 of the inmates were running various courses in different disciplines at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
He said they were posting impressive performances in their chosen fields, ranging from Criminology, Security and Peace Studies, Theology, Business Administration to Mass Communication.