Ambassador Queen Worlu Foundation to register UTME for prisoners

Our correspondent

An intervention outreach for indigent people and others in need, Ambassador Queen Worlu Foundation (AQWF) have pledged to pay registration fees for some prison inmates to enable them sit for the 2019/2020 Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Foundation, Mr. Sam Worlu disclosed this recently when members of the Board visited Kuje Prison in Abuja. The Foundation also donated food and other materials to the inmates for their upkeep.

According to Worlu, the decision to undertake the payment of UTME registration fees came after his interaction with some prisoners who said they were qualified and willing to further their education, if there was any means to register them for the examination.

He said members of the Board were in Kuje Prison to make assessment of the inmates with a view to identify those in need of the Foundation’s intervention in terms of speedy dispensation of justice as well as those that are in remands because they cannot afford minimum bail conditions, adding that the overall objective of the prison outreach was to contribute to making prisoners become better citizens when they leave the prisons.

Worlu who is the immediate past Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) said the Ambassador Queen Worlu Foundation was founded to serve to identify where there is need, in hospitals, schools, prisons, among others, and to facilitate speedy dispensation of justice by intervening for inmates that cannot afford legal representation and others that would remain in detention because of minimal bail conditions.

“The few cases that we have handled in the past were on the recommendation of your people,” he told the Prison’s officer in charge, CSP Audu Eyenu.

“Some people are taken to court and then are remanded in prison. They have no lawyer.

They don’t understand what they do in court. You can imagine a young man who has no legal representation in court. So we will like to know if there are such cases.

We have found out that with a little money, we can help such people avoid injustice,” he said.

On the payment of UTME registration for some inmates, Worlu said it was an impromptu decision taken after his interaction with the prisoners, adding that 10 prisoners would benefit from the intervention.

He said the Foundation’s prison mission was not to obstruct the course of justice but to facilitate speedy trial and help citizens who are awaiting trial get justice.

“I spent twenty four years in law enforcement. So I don’t have interest in protecting somebody who has broken the law but there are people who cannot afford N30,000 fine; they can’t pay N20,000 fine.

We are interested in finding such people and helping them get out of prison,” he said.

Continuing, Worlu solicited the support of the prison authorities in screening the inmates in order to identify those that are qualified for the Foundation’s intervention, adding that the outreach is not only for prisons but all segments of the society where needs arise.

“There is a judge who has being working with us and he informed us that there are people who are in prison because they can’t pay N30,000 fine or N20,000 fine.

We will like to know of such cases. But if somebody’s fine is twenty million naira, we may not be able to pay but if it is a small sum of money that we can set someone free we will like to know about such cases,’’ he said and pledged on behalf of the Foundation to render free legal services to inmates who have no legal representation and cannot afford to pay the legal fee.

Responding, the Acting Head of the Kuje Prison, CSP Audu Eyenu thanked the Foundation for such gesture and called on their Nigerians and organizations to emulate AQWF in rendering helping hands to prisoners and other members of the society that are in need, adding that government alone cannot cater for the needs of prisoners.

“We thank you because these inmates, federal government alone can’t do it. In the past we closed our door and we saw the effects of it, especially with the present Comptroller General who is really doing well and encouraging in the direction that the less privileged will be better after their discharge.

“So we welcome this kind of gesture in the area of giving them skills acquisition, providing them things that would help them and religious and moral teachings especially educational background that at the end of their discharge here, they will become useful to the society,” Eyenu said.

The Ambassador Queen Worlu Foundation was founded a few months ago in memory of late Mrs. Queen Imaria Worlu, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Sao Tome and Principe who died in active service on Monday 9th July, 2018 in that country.

She joined the Nigerian Foreign Service in 1987 and served in various capacities in Nigeria and other countries of the world including serving as Deputy High Commissioner to India before her nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari, and later, confirmation by the Senate as a full-fledged Ambassador.