Hard work paid off for the Fiji Corrections Service after they were awarded the Prime Minister’s Award alongside the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority during the 2014 Service Excellence Awards at Novotel Suva Lami Bay on Friday night.

The Corrections Commissioner, Lieutenant- Colonel Ifereimi Vasu said this was only made possible by the efforts put in by the Corrections community and its supporters.

“I thank all the staff and their families, the inmates and their families, the business community and all those that supported the organisation.

“We contested for the PM’s award this year and worked hard to achieve this award; we are very fortunate and proud,” Lieutenant-Colonel Vasu said.

He said the rehabilitation and Yellow Ribbon Programme had been a major contributing factor in their achievement.

“I believe that the evaluators had evaluated what we’ve done under the rehabilitation and Yellow Ribbon Programme and how well we’ve looked after not only our officers but the inmates as well,” he said.

“There’s really a lot that has been achieved under this programme in training inmates to possess useful skills that could be better used once they return to the community.” He said the biggest challenge now was for the organisation to maintain the standard that has been achieved.

“Maintaining the standard that we’ve achieved this year would be a challenge for us; we have to work even harder. We will strive for the award again next year,” Commissioner Vasu said.

Meanwhile, FRCA’s general manager taxation Moala Nata said staff of the organisation were elated by their achievement.

“This is really an honour for us and we would like to thank all our stakeholders and support members and key partners,” Mr Nata said.

He said they had made three attempts previously but finally achieved the award this year.

“All the hard work has paid off; this is just the icing on the cake. We are honoured and we hope to continue performing to our best,” Mr Nata said.

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