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Tag: ex-militants

  • Company readies 1000 ex-militants for Samsung job

    AS part of federal government’s effort to re-integrate restive youths into legal and productive ventures, a government’s sponsored training has landed about1000 ex-militants with a Samsung job offer.

    This feat is courtesy of Bradama International Skill Works Limited, a welding and fabrication facility and one of the few vocational centers accredited by the government to impart the lives of these hitherto straying young persons.

    It would be recalled that in eight months ago, the federal government through the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty, Mr. Frank Kuku announced the expiration of the amnesty program by 2015, despite fierce agitation by some groups springing up in the oil-rich region. But understanding the prevailing circumstances, the federal government is making provision for those whose trainings will elapse after the deadline for the scheme.

    It is in this regard that the company located in Ondo State, is according to its CEO, Chief Bibopere Ajube, maintaining a compressive array of plants, machinery and staff strength that complement the wide range of services it can provide.

    The company, last Thursday unveiled about 500 ex-militants who had been trained under the scheme, having thoughtfully laid down arms for peace.

    “It might interest you to know that Samsung Heavy Industries, South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries’ (SHI) Nigerian subsidiary recently secured a $3bn order from a Nigerian firm to build a floating production, storage and offloading facility (FPSO) in the country. SHI was awarded the Igini Gas plant project and it will need to train and employ over 1000 staff, most of whom will be beneficiaries of the amnesty program,” Ajube said.

    He noted that in consonance with the federal government amnesty philosophy, a new lease of life is offered more and more to ex-militants who are gradually being re-integrated into the healthy public from where they once defected. “We were in this struggle together and I was spending every Kobo I made to build this facility for my brothers from the creek and because I realised they need to have livelihoods. So, I built this hostel to make them have what to do with the rest of their lives”, Ajube said during the inspection of the facility.

  • 45 ex-militants graduate in Akwa Ibom

    Forty-five repentant militants trained in Disaster Management and Industrial Safety through the Amnesty Office have graduated from the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) in Oron, Akwa Ibom State.

    Addressing the graduating students, the Rector of the Academy, Joshua Okpo, urged the ex-militants to be good ambassador of the Academy.

    Okpo also warned the former warlords to desist from any act that could jeopardise the stability of the country.

    He said, “Those of you here today are extremely lucky and I think you are aware that out there, there are so many of your colleagues still waiting for this kind of opportunity.

    “So, as you are going into the world, you should shun any act of criminality, such as bunkering, kidnapping and restiveness and be useful to yourself, the community and the country at large.

    “A school like Maritime Academy is intended to mould your character. The training you have acquired should portray you as civilised citizens so that you can earn a decent living.”

    Okpo assured the amnesty office of the academy’s preparedness to continue to support the Federal Government in the training of the ex-militants, and called for more support, especially in the area of student accommodation.

    He thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for his magnanimity and the coordinator of the programme for the opportunity given the ex-militants who, he noted, were well behaved throughout the duration of the training.

    In his goodwill message, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, who was represented by Tawari Kester, said the Federal Government has so far trained over 10,000 ex-militants to ensure that life returned to the Niger Delta.

    He said the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan focuses on the holistic empowerment of youths to make them self reliant and contribute their quota to the progress of the country.

    Kuku, who praised the rector for advancing the progress of the ex-militants through the training, warned the youth to stop restiveness in the region and channel their energy on things that will benefit them, the nation and their families.

  • Oil theft: Presidency absolves ex-militants

    Ex-militants currently on the Amnesty Programme have been absolved of complicity in oil theft.

    The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has declared that over 400,000 barrels of crude are lost daily by the country.

    The Presidential Amnesty Office (PAO) has however maintained  that beneficiaries of the  programme  are not involved in crude oil theft in the region, contrary to claims in some quarters.

    The PAO also indicted international oil companies for not doing enough to curb the negative trend.

    In a statement yesterday by Head, Media and Communications, Daniel Alabrah, the ex-militants are no longer in a position to embark on such capital-intensive venture.

    It reads: “Having being properly disarmed, demobilised and currently undergoing reintegration through various training programmes, the former agitators do not have the capacity to embark on the scale of oil theft in the region where the country currently loses about 400,000 barrels of crude per day.

    “While commending the security agencies in the Niger Delta, particularly the Nigerian Navy, for almost wiping out cases of illegal refineries in the region, the PAO notes that the incidence of oil theft is actually a setback to the amnesty programme, which had succeeded in ensuring the stabilization of security in the region.

    “It insists that the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman of the PAP, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, did not raise a false alarm nor was his call on the oil companies to look inward in their search for the culprits misplaced, as claimed by some of the oil workers’ union in their reaction to his (Kuku’s) comments.

    It also notes that the international oil companies (IOCs) in the region have not shown enough transparency in the process of award of their pipeline surveillance contracts, which tended to emasculate the communities and the Niger Delta people from the process of securing such critical infrastructure in the region.

    There is need for the communities and the Niger Delta people to be commensurably involved in the process of securing the oil pipelines,” Kuku noted.

    The Presidential Adviser reasoned that Shell declared last year that it spent one billion dollars ($1bn) on securing its facilities globally; 40 per cent (about $400million) of which it claimed was spent in the Niger Delta.

    “Where was such a huge amount spent when the company had greatly divested its investment onshore and offshore? When converted to Naira, $400million is more than the annual budget for the amnesty programme. So, who are the companies or individuals handling their security contracts?

    These are questions the oil workers should ask their employers rather than disingenuously pointing accusing fingers at the amnesty beneficiaries.

    Kuku said the Federal Government, working with some of the states in the region, has commenced security, legal and other steps to address this ugly trend.

     

  • NCC canvasses local IT training for ex-militants

    THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has got the greenlight to train some former militants for re-integration into the society.

    The training will be at NCC’s Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) in Oshodi, Lagos.

    Vice President of the Institute, Dr Okechukwu Ugweje told The Nation when the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications Technology, Dr Henry Akpan, visited the institute’s Oshodi, Lagos Campus. He said there was no further need to take people under the Amnesty Programme who desire training in any field of information communication technology (ICT) to other parts of the world when the facilities, competence and capability to do so are available at home.

    “The Federal Government is training a lot of people as part of the Amnesty Programme. Some people were even sent overseas for training. We believe that instead of going overseas, we can train here in Nigeria and we have facilities here at the DBI to train the amnesty people in ICT. Anything that is related to ICT, anything that is related to film, cinema and cinematography and anything related to computers. They can do the training in Nigeria instead of taking Nigerians to other countries. We have more than enough facilities here at DBI. We also have the capability. That is why I said we are prepared for such training,” Ugweje said.

    Though he said the number of ex-militants that would be trained was not known, an official of DBI said some thousands of the militants are expected in batches in Lagos. “So many of the ex-militants will be trained here, but for a start, some 300 will be trained in the first batch while the second batch will accommodate the same numbers. We hope the Federal Government will continue with the training,” he said on condition of anonymity.

    Akpan expressed satisfaction with the state of facilities in the campus, adding that they will help train the crop of ICT entrepreneurs that will move the country to the next level.

    “DBI has changed the aesthetics of the structure. DBI will provide opportunity for the youth to learn and reduce poverty and restiveness. We are interested in knowing how soon we will be converting the structure to use,” Apkan said.

    Ugweje said the institution has patnered both local and international universities to deliver internationally acceptable curriculum to the people that pass through it. “We already have partners. We have partnered with Nigerian universities, we have international partners in ICT. In fact, partnership is one of the strengths of the DBI vcos. We partner with a lot of institutions in the US, Europe, as well as universities in Nigeria. We have been doing that. We shall continue to do this. I don’t want to start naming the universities because they may not have direct relevance to the amnesty ptogramme. The amnesty programme is coming up anytime from now,” he added.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • 30 ex-militants for engineering course in France

    The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has entered into a partnership with Schlumberger Limited for the purpose of training some ex-militants in oil drilling engineering.

    Thirty ex-militants have been shortlisted for the programme at the Schlumberger Technologies, Melun in France.

    The training will last 42 weeks.

    The first batch of the engineers-to-be was deployed on Friday.

    At the pre-deployment orientation for the delegates in Abuja, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, charged the delegates to be good ambassadors of Nigeria in France.

    Kuku, who was represented by the Deputy Director (Procurement), Mr Jaiyeola Tikolo, said the Amnesty Office considers the training very important because of the pedigree and global status of the company.

    He said: “There is always a great reward for hard work. So you must be good ambassadors of your country.”

    The Chief Security Officer to the programme, Lt. Col. Ade Adekoya, read out the code of conduct to the delegates and advised them to abide by the laws of the host country.

    “All forms of violence or disorderly conduct before, during or after your training are strictly prohibited. Anyone who engages in activities that affect the training of other delegates will be expelled from the programmes,” he said.

    According to a representative of Lagoon Global Services, an engaged vendor of the amnesty office, Bekewei Ajuwa, the delegates were selected by Schlumberger staff, who came to Nigeria to conduct a very rigorous selection test.

    Schlumberger is the world’s largest oilfield services company, with approximately 120,000 employees representing more than 140 nationalities and working in more than 85 countries.

    It has principal offices in Houston in the USA, Paris in France, and the Hague in The Netherlands.

  • 300 ex-militants now entrepreneurs

    300 ex-militants now entrepreneurs

    Over 300 ex-combatants in the Niger Delta have been trained in various entrepreneurial skills and assisted to operate small businesses.

    They were trained under the Amnesty Programme following a process of disarmament, demobilisation and federal government pardon.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Hon. Kingsley Kuku whose office played a crucial role in the training, expressed his satisfaction with the programme.

    He said in Lagos that the training and support given to the beneficiaries would help them “grow small businesses that will not only make them the new generation of entrepreneurs but also lay a solid foundation“ to break the cycle of poverty as well as contribute to the economic growth of the country.

    At the event, the trainees were given initial jobs tools with which to start their businesses.

    Such tools included welding machines, building and fishery equipment, amongs others.

    One of the beneficiaries, 31-year-old Endurance Egodibia, who graduated from a welding firm in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State capital, told Newsextra that the training meant a lot to him.

    Getting his jobs tools, he said, “will change my life from the former one to a better one.”

    Egodibia is looking forward to setting up in Port-Harcourt.

    So are others expecting to start managing their own businesses in different parts of the country.

    Kuku said “over 13,000 delegates have been deployed to local and foreign training centres for various skill acquisition programmes and formal education.

    He also said over 2500 delegates are studying different courses in local and foreign institutions, adding that more than 4,608 ex-militants are being trained in skills.

    The Special Adviser said further that many of the trainees have been employed in various governmental and private establishments in the country and abroad.

    The beneficiaries were also told that with the training they have acquired and the support provided, they were in good stead to lead meaningful lives, and that after three months, their stipends will be stopped.

    A representative of the ex-militants said they will be of good behaviour and “will not put the Amnesty Programme to shame.”

  • Ex-militants protest unpaid benefits

    Ex-militants protest unpaid benefits

    EX-MILITANTS captured in the third phase of the amnesty programme yesterday stormed the Eagle Square, Abuja to protest their unpaid benefits.

    The Abuja protest option, the group said, was to alert the Presidency and the National Assembly that the managers of the amnesty programme have not kept faith with the agreement reached with the Federal Government by the demilitarised agitators.

    One of the protesters, Commander Paul Amakiri Wakirigbo, told The Nation on telephone from Eagle Square said the ex-militants planned to take their case to the National Assembly.

    According to Wakirigbo, it has become necessary for the Federal Government to honour the agreement it entered with them in the wake of increasing calls to grant amnesty to members of the Boko Haram sect.

    He said: “We are at the Eagle Square Abuja and we will leave there for the National Assembly. We are the third phase of the amnesty programme and we have not been paid and the Federal Government is busy suggesting how to give amnesty to Boko Haram.

    “It is unacceptable that Boko Haram will be granted amnesty when they have no agenda. The truth is that we are going back to the creeks soonest and this time around, it is going to be war.

    He warned that giving amnesty to Boko Haram would encourage more militancy in the Niger Delta and other parts of the country.

    “We were offered amnesty because the reason for our agitation was clear. Don’t be surprised if the Federal Government gives amnesty to Boko Haram, there will be more group of agitators in Nigeria,” Wakirigbo said.

  • Arms recovered from ex-militants handed over to Nigerian Army

    A total of 39, 880 assorted arms and ammunitions recovered from repentant Niger Delta militants were yesterday handed over to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu.

    The inter-agency task force set up by the Chief of Defence Staff carried out the handover.

    A breakdown of the weapons include 482 automatic arms, 20,132 ammunitions, 295  magazines and  18, 971 locally made guns.

    They were recovered from ex-militants in Delta, Bayelsa and Lacto Marine men.

    The General Officer Commanding the 82 Division, General Adebayor Olaniyi, said the exercise was a product of the amnesty’s programme which started in 2009.

    The GOC said President Goodluck Jonathan had “reasoned that without security there can be no development; he also reasoned that if the arms had gone out of these areas, it would have done grievous harm to the nation.”

    While commending the task force, he said, “these weapons of mass destruction will be destroyed openly just as they were openly collected from the armed militants.”

    Governor Sullivan Chime lauded the federal government’s initiative in setting up the task force.

    Chime, represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. John Egbo, urged the federal government and all security agents not to relent in ridding the Niger Delta of illegal narms.

    The coordinator of the task force, Air Vice Marshal Gbum, said the recovery was in response to new claims and agitations by some groups that felt excluded from the amnesty programme.

    He noted the task force was not engaging in fresh amnesty, which is beyond its mandate.

    Gbum stated: “The mandate was strictly to verify and reconcile the disarmament records and document qualified ex-militants, who truly submitted weapons to security agencies for inclusion in the Presidential Amnesty Programme.”

    He said the mandate took the task force to two states as well as the Lacto Marine men where claims of ex-militants were painfully scrutinised to ensure their records showed beyond reasonable doubt that they truly disarmed to security agencies.

     

  • Akpabio makes case for ex-militants

    The federal government has been asked to intervene in ecological issues and proper engagement of ex-militants from Akwa Ibom State who had laid down their guns to embrace government’s amnesty programme.

    Governor Godswill Akpabio made the appeal when the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Management, Hon. Ifedayo Adekunle and the Chairman, House Committee on Public Petitions, Hon. Uzo Azubuike visited him in Uyo.

    Akpabio said: “We have not had the intervention of the federal government in ecological issues for six years now. So, I appeal for the intervention to assist flood victims in the state. But I believe this visit would speed up Federal government assistance to the state, bringing succour by changing the lives of all those affected by this disaster. I also believe that the National Assembly will work with the federal government and do more to make the country united.

    “I also call on the federal government to intervene consider ex-militants who had dropped their guns to embrace amnesty and we should not wait until the youth carry arms again before empowering them. There must be talks with the youth not to carry guns to gain amnesty, but to embrace peace for the unity of the country.”

    The governor, who explained that amnesty is a federal government programme, recalled how over 500 youths from his state, claiming to be ex-militants once blocked the state Government House gate to lodge complaints of their neglect by the federal government while their counterparts from other states had been sent overseas for entrepreneurship and vocational training.

    He emphasised the need for justice by empowering the ex-militants to give them a sense of belonging, saying: ”Don’t wait until the children carry guns to fight again. Let’s give succour to those in the creeks and those who were not there but still carried their guns. I will be glad with any initiative involving discussions with the governors to solve the problem.”

    He thanked the National Assembly for being proactive on the exercise and being close to the people by moving from one state and local government area to another to intervene on the needs of the people.

    The visitors congratulated Akpabio on his recent appointment as the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, saying that as a performing governor, who has transformed the state tremendously, he deserved the appointment.

    Azubuike applauded Governor Akpabio on his contributions for the development of the country which led to his recent appointment as the pioneer Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.

  • Ex-militants threaten attack on oil firms

    AN aggrieved ex-militant group, under the aegis of Niger Delta Subterranean Force, yesterday threatened to attack two oil companies in Esit Eket, Akwa Ibom State.

    The oil companies are Frontier and Septa Oil and Gas.

    According to the group, the firms would be attacked, if they fail to meet its three-point demands.

    A letter was said to have been forwarded to the managing directors of the two companies.

    The letter, which was signed by the group’s leader, General Oyobio Oyobio, warned that unless the companies pay it N600million royalty and N100million monthly, they would be attacked.

    Oyobio said they should be allowed to guard the pipelines.

    “Next week, we will be ready to attack the pipelines. We are ready to visit the Central Processing Facilities.

    “If the two companies do not settle us, they should forget about the inauguration of the CPF, an oil tank farm, because we will attack it.”

    He said since 2011 the companies have refused to comply with its demands.

    “We have promised to scatter that CPF and other places if we are not settled.

    “If they like let them bring soldiers from all over the world to secure the place, they won’t be able to stop us from striking when we want to strike,”he added.

    The group’s leader said they have been neglected by the government and only a few ex-militants have been settled.

    The General Manager, Operations, Frontier Oil, Wole Adefila, confirmed that the company received a threat letter from the militants.

    Adefila assured that the company would act on it.

    He said: “I can confirm we received a threat letter from a militant group.

    “We are addressing it appropriately.”