By Abubakar Yunusa
The Shamies Unusual Heart Foundation has announced the fifth edition of its Annual Seminar Series, scheduled for 27 November 2025 at the National Human Rights Commission’s Bukhari Bello Auditorium in Abuja.
This year’s forum will focus on “Restoring Dignity and Reducing Recidivism”, with emphasis on education, partnerships, and innovation across Nigeria’s correctional system.
The event is expected to draw policymakers, security agencies, justice sector actors, development partners, academics, civil society groups, and practitioners within the correctional chain.
Organisers said the seminar aims to strengthen national dialogue and deepen collaboration on inmate rehabilitation, education, reintegration, and human rights protection.
A major highlight will be the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between SUHF and the NHRC, formalising a long-term partnership on prison welfare and rights-based interventions.
The Executive Director and Founder of SUHF, Amb. Dr Saratu Abdullahi, said collaboration and innovation remain central to transforming the country’s correctional system.
“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.
She stressed the importance of education, mental health support, skills training, and institutional partnerships in reducing repeat offences, describing the seminar as “a call to action”.
Abdullahi said the foundation has supported more than 10,000 inmates and ex-inmates since 2019 through outreach programmes, skills training, legal support, and the establishment of NABTEB exam centres in Kuje and Suleja custodial facilities.
The Executive Director (Admin & Strategy), Mr Ebenezer Akarah, called for collective responsibility among public and private institutions.
He said reforming the correctional system requires the joint effort of government, civil society, development partners, academia, and the private sector, especially as the country faces multiple security challenges.
SUHF’s Director of Programmes, Mr Shedrach Oka, said the seminar continues to serve as a strategic platform for advancing correctional and human rights reforms.
He noted that the 2025 edition seeks to push national conversations on rehabilitation, recidivism, inmate education, reintegration, and human rights.
According to him, “Building safer communities requires evidence-based solutions and institutional commitment. This seminar will help move the needle in shaping a system that truly reforms.”
This year’s programme will feature expert presentations, a high-level panel session, and goodwill messages from government agencies, ministries, NGOs, and diplomatic missions.
Proceedings will conclude with the signing of the SUHF–NHRC partnership agreement.
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