An inmate of the Enugu Maximum Security Prison, Chukwununso Nomeh, has graduated as the overall best post-graduate student from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

This was made known by the spokesperson of the Nigeria Prison Service in Enugu State, Mr. Chukwuemeka Monday, on Friday.

Monday disclosed that Chukwunonso who was convicted and sentenced to the Enugu facility in 2010 had got into NOUN to pursue his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programme.

Nomeh graduated with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.80 from the distance learning institution.

According to the Prisons spokesperson, one of the ex-convicts of the same centre, named Theophilus Adeniyi, also emerged as the overall best graduating student in 2014 while in incarceration.

Adeniyi is reportedly pursuing his Ph.D. in one of the country’s universities.

The Enugu State Controller of Prison, Ndubuisi Ogbodo, thereby enjoined the inmates to utilize the opportunity of an education at the NOUN, thereby keying into the transformation mantra of the Controller General of Prison, Ja’afaru Ahmed.

The Transformation Agenda of the Controller-General has the training and retraining of both staff and inmates as its core goals.

Mr. Ja’afaru Ahmed thereby urged members of the public to see ex-convicts as reformed and responsible members of the society.

Furthermore, he enjoined that they should be given opportunities for gainful employment as continuous rejection would only lead them back to crime.