Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Matters, Mr. Kingsley Kuku has given Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva a pat on the back for his contributions to the success of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
Commending Governor Sylva as the initiator of the amnesty programme, the Special Adviser said “the story of Nigeria’s home-grown amnesty cannot be complete without a mention of the name of the Bayelsa State Governor, because it he, who sold the idea to our late President, Umar Yar ‘Adua”.
He said following the success of the disarmament story in Bayelsa, Chief Sylva suggested presidential amnesty as the panacea to the problem of insecurity in the Niger Delta and fortunately, late President Yar ‘Adua bought the idea.
Mr. Kuku also lauded late President Musa Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as well as other key players for their doggedness at ensuring the success of the programme.
The Presidential Adviser highlighted the major challenges facing the amnesty programme which include procurement of visas for ex-militants and the issue of more batches of ex-militants springing up on a daily basis.
Mr. Kuku expressed worry that if such ex-militant groups continue to emerge after the closure of enrolment, it could scuttle the amnesty programme. Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Matters, Mr. Kingsley Kuku enumerated the achievements made so far by the amnesty programme.
He said 20,192 ex-militants have been fully demobilized and the programme has now moved to the phase of re-integration.
Mr. Kuku said 3,482 of them have been placed in various skills acquisition centres and receiving training within the country while 5,618 were being processed for placement in the next few months.
The Special Adviser also gave a breakdown of the quota for placement of ex-militants for training in various countries. The countries are South Africa (933), Malaysia (172), Russia (60) and Benin Republic 42. Others are Ghana 192, Sir Lanka (34) U.S.A. (56), India (65) and Poland 21.
According to Mr. Kuku, the ex-militants were under-going training in the areas of pipeline welding, under-water welding, ocean diving, crane operation and oil drilling among others.
While stating that some of the ex-militants were also being trained in the oil and gas industry, the Special Adviser urged the companies to train them in their own areas of need so that at the end of their programme they can be employed by the multinational oil companies.
Mr. Kuku said the programme has a total of 26,358 ex-militants.
While responding, Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre said all those putting pressure on the federal government to accept them as part of the amnesty programme, after failing to take advantage of the amnesty window, should be treated as criminals.
The Governor noted that if the federal government accepts any more militants when the window had closed, the problem would become an endless cycle as more people will keep coming, and assured the Presidential Adviser that the state government would collaborate with the Amnesty Office in tackling the problem.
Chief Sylva advocated the establishment of more skills acquisition institutions and the strengthening of existing ones in the country in line with international standards for the training of the youths of the country.
Governor Sylva emphasized the need to upgrade the country’s training facilities especially at this period when the amnesty programme was on-going, adding that this would reverse the trend of sending youths abroad for training.
While noting that the country requires a lot of artisans to build a solid foundation for industrial growth, the Governor expressed government’s preparedness to collaborate with the federal government through the amnesty programme to develop the two skills acquisition centres in the state located at Elebele in Ogbia and Asuama in Kolokuma/Opokuma local government area towards making them world class institutions.
According to Chief Sylva, the skills acquisition centre at Elebele has a capacity to train 1000 youths.
The State Chief Executive, who observed that lack of education and poor training facilities were mainly responsible for youth restiveness and insecurity, said there was an urgent need to train the youths to become self-reliant since government alone cannot create employment for all.
While expressing government’s support towards the success of the amnesty programme, Chief Sylva noted that at the time amnesty was granted, government undertook a lot of advocacy to get the ex-militants to accept the offer but some were skeptical about the programme.
The Governor, who said he was gratified that the federal government accepted his humble suggestion on amnesty, remarked that he was happy the programme has become a huge success story and attributed its success to the fact that the programme was being managed by those who truly understand the problem of the Niger Delta.
Chris Odi
For: Chief Press Secretary to the Governor
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