Amnesty Office trains 13,000 in agriculture, as automobile company employs 200

The Presidential Amnesty Office, has said that most of the 13,000 beneficiaries of the amnesty programme, who are yet to undergo training, will be trained in different fields of agriculture, in line with the Green Alternative Initiative of government.

Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta; and Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme, Brigadier-General Paul Boroh, gave the information in a media interraction in Abuja on Tuesday.

He also disclosed that indigenous auto manufacturer, Innoson has offered to employ the 200 amnesty delegates, which it trained in the last few months.

According to him, 80 are employed in plastic manufacturing while 120 are employed as auto engineers.

Aside from the 13,000 amnesty beneficiaries who are to be trained in agriculture, the Amnesty Office also identified and enlisted some youths from Oguta/Egbema area in the oil producing part of Imo state, which it intends to send to Biotechnology Agric Centre in Owerri, for training to stem the tension in the Niger Delta.

According to Boroh, who said he paid a visit to the area on Monday, the people complained of neglect, which was the root cause of the agitations in the Niger Delta, and to avoid such in that area, the Office decided to train the youths.

The purpose for these training programmes is “for food security, job and wealth creation. But beyond these, agriculture is a vehicle for conflict resolution in the Niger Delta,” he said.

Gen. Boroh further informed that while 70 delegates of the amnesty programme graduated as divers and under water welders from Saint Kitts, in the West Indis, this week, 15 trained pilots returned after graduating from their type rating course yesterday. This makes them eligible for employment in the airline industry.

Also, more than 4,000 youths from areas impacted by militancy are currently undergoing university education under the office of the SA on Niger Delta. These are aside the 30,000 under the amnesty programme.

Boroh informed that the skill acqusition centre being put in place by the Amnesty Office in Kiama in Bayelsa state, has reached 90 per cent completion.

He noted that with all these programmes, the exit strategy of the amnesty programme is a possibility, adding that amnesty is costly and not sustainable indefinitely.