WHO IS CHINEDU EZE?
My name is Chinedu Eze. I am one of the beneficiaries of Chify rehabilitation center, right from Kuje prison.
HOW DID YOU GET IN CONTACT WITH CHIFY REHABILITATION CENTER?
In 2006, while I was in the correctional facility in Kuje, Chify rehabilitation center came for a visit and they were able to hear my story. They have been coming to the prison to take care of the needs of the inmates, and one of the ways by which I had an encounter with them was that they were sponsoring inmates education in the prison, I had a little educational background before going to the prison, as a result, I was chosen to benefit from their benevolence.
- ‘I find joy when I see God using me to make people happy’
- Arabella Empowerment Initiative donates relief materials, food items, gives scholarship to over 50 students
I was one of those sponsored to through secondary school education and writing of WAEC right from the prison. That was my first contact with them. I wrote WAEC twice while in prison and they footed the bill. It did not end there, in 2013, National Open University brought their study center to the prison, looking for inmates who were qualified to be given admission and I was privileged to be among 31 persons out of 999 who applied to gain admission to the University. Through the help of the initiative, I got admission to study Peace and Conflict Resolution.
HOW HAS THE JOURNEY BEEN AFTER YOUR STUDIES?
I studied in the University while still in prison and undergoing trial, on the 2nd of May 2019, I was discharged and acquitted in the court and I returned back to the society. For someone who had been away from the society for fourteen years, I had lost everything and barely knew anywhere.
Thank God for Chify rehabilitation center who did not end their relationship with me, after I came out, they took me into the rehabilitation center where I was given shelter, after some time, I was able to get back on my feet and moved out to get my own apartment, and today I am the one managing the rehabilitation center.
SO FAR WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE, WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OUT THERE?
My message to the people out there is that the society at large has a wrong impression about the prison and prisoners. Even before I went to prison, I thought everyone in the prison is a criminal, but going to the prison with my experience, I now understand that not everyone in prison is a criminal.
Moreover, even those who were criminals before going to the prison have an opportunity to change in the prison, many of those working with us are formerly armed robbers, but today they have changed and are even more sincere and honest than even those who might not been to prison before.
BEING THE MANAGER OF ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS REHABILITATION CENTERS, WHAT HAS BEEN THE EXPERIENCE SO FAR?
My prison experience gives me an advantage in running the rehabilitation center, because I have been in prison for a span of fourteen years, I understand their thought patterns, their needs and wants, because I have been there. It makes it easy for me to manage them because I have been in their shoes.