Ex-convict graduates, plans to go one better

By EHEYUC SESERU

AN ex-convict has graduated with a bachelor of theology and plans to pursue a masters degree to show young people that changing one’s life for the better is possible.
Paul Nicko, 49, from Moin-Sim village in Garaina, Morobe.
He graduated with a diploma and bachelor of theology at the Martin Luther Seminary on Sunday.
He wants to get a masters degree before returning home to help young people stay away from criminal activities.
Nicko spent half of his life involved in criminal activities and spent most of his time in prisons around the country. The final time he was jailed was five years ago. He became a free man in 2014.
Garaina is inaccessible by road and lacks proper education, health, banking and postal services.
Nicko began participating in criminal activities at the age of 22 in 1987 after he was forced to leave school when he assaulted a fellow student.
He described prison as hell because inmates were denied their rights and freedom one enjoys outside the prison walls.
“I was condemned by the State, rejected by citizens and saw that there’s no life in prison or crime,” he said.
“So I pursued education through theology after completing jail term.”