The Federal Government on Friday insisted that Presidential Amnesty Programme for the Niger Delta ex-fighters will end in 2017.
Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, said this while addressing some ex-fighters trained as electrical engineers who were in his office to present a transformer they worked on to him.
The former agitators were trained by Brainbox Matrix Services Limited.
President Muhammadu Buhari had, on assumption of office, approved a two-year extension of the programme till 2017.
There have been calls for further extension of the programme, especially in the face of renewed attacks on oil and gas installations in the region by militants. But Boroh said the programme would not last forever.
“Amnesty programme will not last forever. It will end next year. I thank God that you have finished your training. You can fit into Ministry of Mines and Power or private sector,” he said.
The ex-fighters demonstrated their skills to him with a transformer which they presented to him.
He later told journalists that it would have been difficult for his office to achieve the feat if Buhari had not given the go ahead to continue with the training of the ex-agitators.
“You can imagine a group of persons who have transformed from militants to electrical engineers,” he said.
“Obviously, I am very proud of it, because it has been a success story. And my appreciation goes to Mr. President who has done this in his determination and commitment to stabilising the Niger Delta region through human capacity development and infrastructure development.”
Boroh disclosed that 23 ex-agitators took part in the training which was meant to develop their capacity in transformer maintenance and establishment.
He called on agitators still in the creek to embrace peace.
