It is often time said that It is easier to build a child than to rebuild an adult, which made Lagos State Government adopt a UNICEF program called "Diversion Community Rehabilitation Program" tested globally to rebuild minors within the ages of 10 to 17 years old, who are likely to exhibit criminal tendency or have committed crime that is not capital offenses, rather than taking them to custody, it allows them to be domesticated and report to the program centre for rehabilitation, quality guidance and counseling where he can learn a skill to become a useful person in the community, parents are not left out of the program by giving them proper parenting skills because it is a parent-child intervention.

The Diversion Community Rehabilitation Program is alternative sentencing by UNICEF in conjunction with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development as a pilot study for about three years which has yielded positive results on the children.

Mr. Babajide Akinremi, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development

Mr. Babajide Akinremi, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development explained that the program is non-residential, where the children come from their home after been certified and referred by referring authorities like magistrate, family court, police, social welfare officers, police family unit and he or she must have committed and convicted of an offense against the norm of keeping them in welfare home or correctional centres.

"The program is primarily to reorientate minors who committed minor offenses within the age of 10 to 17 years old for 4 to 6 months with the parent's consent and are also included in the program because it is a child-parent program which they are given adequate parental skills and care so that the child progress be measured, giving them rehabilitation and integration back to the community". He said.


The Secretary to the Local Government, Mushines, Hon. Oluwabunmi Gbadamosj receiving the Award on behalf of the Chairman, Hon. Emmanuel Bamigboye by Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development during the commissioning of the Centre

After the pilot study in 2019, the State government decided to establish the program into full operation, seeking community stakeholders like local government authorities to adopt the program in their various communities and Mushin Local Government under the leadership of Hon. Emmanuel Bamigboye, the Chairman made history to be the first local council chairman to adopt the program by having the program centre at Cele Area Office in which children within the community and environs have been undergoing quality skills training and rehabilitation.

the Program Manager Mrs.Giwa Oluwatoyin

According to the Program Manager Mrs.Giwa Oluwatoyin and Mr. Idris Adio Jamiu, the Social Welfare Officer both from the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development coordinating the program at Mushin Diversion Community Rehabilitation Centre, Cele, made it known that Mushin Local Government has given so much to make sure the program works by purchasing all necessary equipment needed at each section of the skills training like hairdressing and make-up,  tailoring, shoemaking, catering and so on since the program started, children have been referred and there are success stories. 

Mr. Idris Adio Jamiu, the Social Welfare Officer

Also, it was gathered that many of the children referred to the centre have been integrated back into the community, having some of them improving on the skill acquired and making a living for themselves and now role models in the community. like a boy who was trained on shoemaking, made shoes for the magistrate that referred him to the program including the social welfare, Mr. Idris.

Precious Tiwalade, one of the beneficiaries, due to privacy his face is not shown

Precious Tiwalade the boy who made the shoe narrated how attending the program has impacted so much in his life, that going for them is the best thing that ever happened in his life because he never believed he can learn handwork like shoemaking due to his stubbornness and rude behaviour but now he's a new person and now improving on the shoemaking skill by learning more outside the program within the community, which his mother and master testified to his new life.

The Chief Magistrate, Adejumoke Adelabu, The Chairman of the Centre Steering Committee

The Chief Magistrate, Adejumoke Adelabu, The Chairman of the Centre Steering Committee, saddled with the responsibility of seeing to the day to day activities of the centre, making it sustainable and effective, expressed great joy that such program is initiated and situated in Mushin which serve as an alternative and second option for children to serve their sentence within the community, better than custodian sentences where they are locked up at the correctional centres, now they can come from home without anybody knowing that they are serving their sentences and it will the clog at the correctional system. It is a wonderful opportunity for the children to learn trade and skills without any stigmatization.


Hon. Afeez Lawal, a community stakeholder and member of the Steering Committee applauded Mushin Local Government for being the first local government to embrace this program, due to the high rate of crime among the adolescents in the community, urging the community to support the program by reporting any child that seems to conflict with the law in their area before the child become uncontrollable. 

He advises the parent to take good care of their children because lack of parental care is the major cause of these children's misdemeanor behaviors and if the child is uncontrollable, they should report to appropriate authorities like police and welfare officers in the community for a better future.