Abstract
Prison Agricultural Entrepreneurship Programs and Food Sustainability in Nigeria is the focus of this study. The population of this study consisted of all the staff of Ikot Ekpene Correctional Center in Ikot Ekpene of Akwa Ibom State. The study adopted a correlational research design while stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting the respondents. The instrument for data collection which was tagged “Assessment of Prison Agricultural Entrepreneurship Programs and Food Sustainability Questionnaire (APAEPFSQ)” was administered to the respondents and used for the study.
The instrument was vetted by the researcher’s supervisor who is an expert in the field before the reliability test was conducted which produced the reliability coefficient of 0.84 proving the instrument to be reliable for the study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive analysis and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis. From the results of the data analysis, it was observed that utilizing idle prison lands and providing inmates with agricultural skills training, boost local food production. While, surplus produce often enters local markets, contributing to broader food security initiatives.
Prison Agricultural Entrepreneurship Programs in Nigeria contribute significantly to food availability and security within correctional facilities and beyond. It was concluded that prison agricultural entrepreneurship programs offer a promising avenue for addressing food sustainability and rehabilitation within the Nigerian prison system, concerted efforts are required to overcome existing challenges and realize their full benefits. However, prison agricultural entrepreneurship programs help freed inmates to become self-reliance in society.
One of the recommendations was that the Nigerian government, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, should develop comprehensive guidelines and policies tailored to the unique context of prison agricultural entrepreneurship programs. These guidelines should address issues such as infrastructure development, resource allocation, and program evaluation.
Chapter one Introduction 1.1 Background of the Study
Prisons are Omnidisciplinary in nature in that they purport to transform the individual criminal into a normal law abiding citizen by altering the individual’s attitude towards work, physical training, and behavior (Dambazu, 2007). In this regards, Nigerian correctional service is established to administer penal treatment to adult offenders with the sole aim of reducing crime in the society. On the basis of the imprisonment policy, the prison service was established to manage criminals in the prison yards.
This constitutional function empowers prison agricultural entrepreneurship operatives to be able to keep convicted offenders in safe custody, to keep awaiting-trial inmates in custody, to punish offenders as instructed by the law courts, to reform the convicted prisoners, and to rehabilitate and reintegrate prisoners who have completed their sentences in the prison (Ajah & Nweke, 2017).
Indeed, many rehabilitation services for prison agricultural entrepreneurship are widely available around the world. Each of these rehabilitation services target specific groups of people with specific needs for reform. Rehabilitation services provide trainings which agricultural entrepreneurship is a part, in prisons, in about various aspects of life. This is useful for getting inmates prepared for life outside the prison system. The place of these rehabilitation services in the reformation and transformation of prison inmates has continued to be on the front burner of public discourse in recent times (Tanimu, 2010).
Thus, agricultural entrepreneurship programme is necessary in prisons because it will not only help prison inmates acquire the much needed social, vocational, attitudinal and behavioral changes and skills to be more useful to themselves and the society upon release but restore them to full physical, mental, psychological, social, vocational and economic usefulness. Researchers have shown that food is a cardinal need of man, without which survival is impossible. Prison inmates who are equipped with modern farming skills and have access to land and farming resources are less likely to reoffend.
However, despite Nigeria being blessed with skillful and able bodied prison inmates, abundant fertile land and water resources, Nigeria’s agricultural potential particularly in the area of food sustainability is not being realized. The family menu of having access to a sufficient quantity of affordable nutritious food is fast disappearing. Truly, in many homes, particularly, among the majority poor Nigerians, hardly will one see those who are having 1-1-1 which represents three square meals per day. Food is a serious matter. It is said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Hunger and starvation had precipitated revolution in many countries.
History has it that one of the causes of the French Revolution (1789 – 1790) was as a result of the increase in the price of bread (Ojo, 2016).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Indeed, Nigeria’s situation on food sustainability is highly precarious and pernicious as a significant percentage of the Nigerian population is left with only the bilious taste of poverty (Wada, 2012). Relatedly, Braide (2017) noted that in Nigeria, self-sufficiency in food production is not in sight rather evidence of food insecurity and hunger abound virtually at every nook and cranny in the country. Importation of food items that can be sufficiently produced in the country has even become the order of the day. Food production does not satisfy local demands because apart from shortage in production, the technologies for processing and storage are very far from being adequate.
Braide (2017) added that government policies and programmes in Nigeria had their principal objectives, which abi-initio did not emphasize food crop production and subsequently neglected farming systems. Most of programmes which in most cases were well-intentioned failed because of poor implementation and inadequate supervision. The failure of Nigeria government to pay adequate attention to agricultural entrepreneurship, particularly in prisons, and fund it adequately would continue to make our nation insecure because it is evidence that as Nigeria is battling the challenge of food insecurity, released inmates may likely re-offend instead of dying with unbearable hunger.
There is more to imprisonment than the opening and closing of prison gates. Modern penal management techniques emphasize reform of the inmate. The current attitude is to see imprisonment from the perspective of reform and rehabilitation rather than from the perspective of punishment. It is assumed that those who have committed crimes need help and should be assisted to live a good life. This view is predicated upon the understanding that those who have fallen afoul of criminal laws should be reformed (Ostreicher, 2003).
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title
Title Page
Declaration
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Tables of Contents
List of Tables
Abstract
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Statement of the problem
1.3 Purpose of the study
1.4.1 Research Questions
1.5 Hypotheses
1.6 Significance of the study
1.7 Scope of the study
1.8 Definition of Terms
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Theoretical Framework
2.2 Conceptual Framework
2.2.1 Overview of Prison Entrepreneurship Programme
2.3 Empirical Framework
2.4 Literature Appraisal
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODS
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Area of the Study
3.3 Population of the Study
3.4 Sample and sampling Technique
3.5 Instrumentation
3.5.1 Validation of the Research Instrument
3.5.2 Reliability of the Instrument
3.6 Administration of the Instrument
3.7 Method of data analysis
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSES AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Data Analyses and Results
4.2.1 Research Question One
4.2.2 Research Question two
4.2.3 Research Question Three
4.2.1 Research Question four
4.2.5 Research Question Five
4.2.6 Hypothesis One
4.2.6 Hypothesis two
4.2.8 Hypothesis three
4.2.9 Hypothesis four
4.2.6 Hypothesis five
4.3 Summary of Findings
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of Work
5.2 Conclusion
1.3 Recommendations of the Study
5.4 Suggestions for further studies
References