The Prison Fellowship Nigeria (PFN) has trained about 70 mentors, staff and donors of the Promise Path Programme (PPP), an initiative of the PFN on safeguarding children of inmates.
The two-day event which was held on Friday and Saturday in Ibadan was organised for the PPP mentors across seven states of the country.
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Speaking at the event, the National Coordinator, Promise Path Programme, Tosin Olugbade, stated that the training is meant to train the participants on safeguarding of the children of inmates being cared for by the mentors.
She said the training is held for mentors of children of the inmates , partners and donors to refresh the participants on the goals and purpose of the initiative .
Adding that the training is also meant to train the participants on chid protection policy and code of conduct.
She said,“The promise path program is a family-based. comprehensive program that seeks to care for the children of inmates and through this program inmates children receive educational support, social support, spiritual support and safety support. This training is a zonal training comprising of mentors from 7 states , majorly southwest states.
“At the end of the training, our mentors, and volunteers are also expected to train parents and guidance of the inmates children,on how to relate with them and what constitute as abuse to a child to ensure that we raise children who are fit for the society.
“We want to be able to show the society an example of accountability because we are accountable to God for this children , the society and humanity we are showing the society .So we are holding ourselves accountable for our behaviour when interacting with these children.”
In an interview with Tribune Online, the Oyo state coordinator of the initiative, Kayode Oluyonbo explained that the training is to update the mentors on new innovations .
While he implored well meaning Nigerians to support such initiatives which will help reduce reduce vulnerables and crime rate in the society.
He said, “this initiative was brought in by the international body of Promise Path Program and it fits into the situation of Nigeria because it is aimed at reducing vulnerable children on the streets, so we have brought the mentors to know the challenges they are facing, innovations and to know how far they are making impacts in the lives of the children.”
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