Foundation announces 5th annual seminar series on reforming Nigeria’s correctional system

The Shamies Unusual Heart Foundation (SUHF), has announced the 5th edition of its Annual Seminar Series, scheduled to hold on Thursday, 27th November 2025, at the Bukhari Bello Auditorium, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Abuja. This year’s seminar will focus on the theme: “Restoring Dignity and Reducing Recidivism: Education, Partnerships, and Innovation in Nigeria’s Correctional […]

The Shamies Unusual Heart Foundation (SUHF), has announced the 5th edition of its Annual Seminar Series, scheduled to hold on Thursday, 27th November 2025, at the Bukhari Bello Auditorium, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Abuja.

This year’s seminar will focus on the theme: “Restoring Dignity and Reducing Recidivism: Education, Partnerships, and Innovation in Nigeria’s Correctional System.”

The 2025 edition aims to assemble a high-level audience of policymakers, security agencies, justice sector actors, development partners, academia, civil society organisations, and key practitioners across the correctional value chain.

Its objective is to deepen national dialogue and reinforce multi-stakeholder collaboration towards closing the systemic gaps affecting inmate rehabilitation, education, reintegration, and human rights protection.

This year’s event will also feature the official signing of an MOU between the Shamies Foundation and the National Human Rights Commission, formalising a long-term partnership on prison welfare, monitoring, and human rights-based interventions.

Speaking ahead of the event, the Executive Director and Founder of SUHF, Amb. Dr. Saratu Abdullahi, underscored the vital role of institutional collaboration and innovative approaches in transforming Nigeria’s correctional system.

He said: “Our mission has always been to restore dignity, give hope, and create sustainable pathways for inmates and ex-inmates to become productive members of society,” she said.

“Education, mental health support, skills training, and institutional collaboration are essential tools for reducing recidivism. This seminar is not just another event, but a call to action, a platform to unite stakeholders, and a commitment to building a correctional system centred on humanity and second chances.”

She further noted that the Foundation has, since 2019, supported more than 10,000 inmates and ex-inmates through rehabilitation outreaches, skills programmes, legal support, and most recently, the establishment of NABTEB Examination Centres in Kuje and Suleja Custodial Facilities.

While emphasizing the mission and the national significance of the seminar, the Executive Director (Admin & Strategy) Mr. Ebenezer Akarah, highlighted the need for collective responsibility by public and private institutions.

He noted that while correctional reform is a shared responsibility, “Government, civil society, development partners, academia, and the private sector must work together to build an ecosystem where rehabilitation is possible and reintegration is supported.

He also noted that all hands must be on deck to build a safer Nigeria for everyone, most especially at a time like this when Nigeria is contending with a myraids of security challenges.”

Mr. Shedrach Oka, the Foundation’s Director of Programmes while noted that the seminar has consistently served as a strategic platform for strengthening Nigeria’s human rights and correctional reform agenda stated that “The 2025 edition is designed to deepen the national conversation around rehabilitation, recidivism, inmate education, reintegration, and human rights.

“We are convening the right voices because building safer communities requires evidence-based solutions and joint institutional commitment. This seminar will move the needle forward in shaping a correctional system that truly reforms, not merely detains.”

The 2025 Seminar Series will feature technical presentations by sector experts, a high-level panel discussion involving government agencies, NGOs, academia, and international missions, as well as goodwill messages from national institutions, ministries, and diplomatic missions.

The event will culminate in the signing of the MOU between SUHF and the NHRC.

Shamies Unusual Heart Foundation (SUHF) is a Nigerian NGO dedicated to inmate welfare, rehabilitation, reintegration, policy advocacy, crime prevention, education support, and human rights protection. Since inception in 2019, SUHF has remained one of Nigeria’s most active civil society organisations within the correctional ecosystem.