One of the inmates in the Maiduguri Maximum Custodial Centre has won N1 million in the maiden edition of chess in prison championship organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
The chess competition which was held at the premises of the correctional facility on Tuesday, brought together 42 qualifiers from the state medium and maximum correctional facilities to jostle for various categories of awards.
Addressing the participants, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who was represented by his Senior Special Adviser, Babatunde Ogundare, urged the inmates to deploy the knowledge from chess to think critically about the potential they have within them
“This is one of its kind. Correctional centre is not a percussion home, rather, it is meant to build you to become a better person. Use this knowledge to evaluate your life, begin to think and discover that value you have that the world is yet to see.
“For those of us who are free outside, it does not mean that we are better than you. Therefore, let the essence of today go into your behaviour,” he stated.
He assured the inmates of improved infrastructure that would meet the standard of the Kuje correctional centre in Abuja
“We are looking at replicating the standard of the Kuje Correctional facility across all that we have in Nigeria” he said
While announcing the N1m support for the winner, the Chairman, House Committee on Reformation, Chinedu Ogah, expressed satisfaction with the UNODC initiative.
“I am pledging N1m which will be handed over to you immediately you complete your remaining six months of prison,” he said.
Similarly, the Guinness World Record Holder and Convener of Chess in Slum Africa, Tunde Onakoya, also announced the donation of N100,000 to the contestants who clung the first, second and third positions.
