Overview: Astro-prison in Nigeria

“Over the years, Human Rights Watch and activists in Africa have raised concerns on the deplored state of correctional/ prison services in the continent of which Nigeria is not exempted. The Nigerian government in its bid to improve its prison services enacted new prison Act in 2019, targeted mainly to improve the welfare of inmates. The Astro-prison project aims to use Astro-prison as an astronomical tool in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Nigerian correctional facilities.The Astro-prison project targets the eighteen (18) correctional centres in South-Eastern Nigeria. South-East Nigeria is made up of five states which include Anambra State, Enugu State, Abia State, Imo State and Ebonyi State. The Astro-prison project will adopt a cross-sectional design. The project design will utilize both qualitative and quantitative methods for analysis. The project is designed to cope with the current COVID-19 pandemic by adopting preventive World Health Organization guidelines. This project will adopt the use of English, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba languages as major communication languages because Nigeria is multi-ethnic. The Astro-prison project targets all inmates and prison warders in the South-East region of Nigeria and the sample size per prison (n) i.e. the number of participants per prison will be determined using standard Fischer’s et al. (1998) formula, n = (Z^2 pq)/d^2.The Astro-prison project will adopt the following outreach topics; the solar system, light pollution, climate change and environmental conservation, energy conservation, pale blue dot, and prison health and wellness. Test of statistical significance for variables used in the structured pre and post questionnaires will be carried out using SPSS version 22.0. Project ethical approval will be collected from the Nigerian Correctional Service Headquarters Abuja, Nigeria before starting the program.”

Contact: Nnaemeka Dom Onyeuwaoma emekadonn@gmail.com