Accra: Eight senior officials from the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), accompanied by representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), visited Ankaful Maximum Prison for a study tour aimed at strengthening correctional administration and boosting regional cooperation.
According to Ghana News Agency, the delegation, led by Mr Lakatile Cyrus Cham, Assistant Controller General of Corrections (Custody), received briefings on inmate separation and classification systems used in maximum-security facilities and on the security infrastructure that supports custody and staff safety. The presentations were followed by a guided tour of the prison complex, where delegates observed custody operations and the facility layout to gain firsthand information.
The team also toured the Ankaful Main Camp Prison to view exhibitions of inmate-made products, part of efforts to highlight vocational training and rehabilitation programs that support skills development and post-release reintegration. The study tour concluded with a visit to Elmina Castle, providing the delegation with historical perspective on the evolution of confinement and justice in the Central Region and underscoring the links between heritage, human rights, and modern corrections practice.
Welcoming the delegation, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP) Joseph Asabre, Central Regional Commander, said the visit reinforced longstanding bonds of friendship and cooperation between Ghana and Nigeria. He described the exchange as a valuable platform for professional learning and institutional collaboration, enabling the two services to share best practices in corrections management, rehabilitation, reintegration, security, staff development, and inmate welfare.
DDP Asabre stressed that continued collaboration among correctional professionals was essential to address evolving operational challenges and to develop more innovative, humane, and effective correctional systems across the sub-region. The NECoS Deputy Controller General thanked the Ghana Prison Service for the warm reception and support to improve prison inmates' welfare across Africa. He said the study tour would help his team draw practical lessons from Ghana's correctional approaches and adapt them to Nigeria's context.
Both parties promised to exchange technical manuals, organize staff exchanges and joint training workshops, and explore pilot projects on inmate classification, vocational training expansion, and non-custodial alternatives. This, he said, was in line with the vision of NECoS to be a credible institution that secures, reforms, rehabilitates, and reintegrates offenders into society as aligned with global best practices in custodial and non-custodial services to promote public protection.