150 Trained Ex-militants Benefits From Amnesty Entrepreneur Starter Packs in Bayelsa

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The Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Prof. Charles Dokubo, has presented amnesty enterprenure starter packs to 150 trained ex-militant youths in Bayelsa State, assuring that the Amnesty program will be reviewed to refocus on its mandate and programs in order to produce the desired results.

The Amnesty started pack, made up of power generating set, deep freezer and plastic tanks among others,, is meant to establish beneficiaries as employer of labour and reduce cases of unemployment in their various areas.

The Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Prof. Charles Dokubo, while presenting the starter packs in Olubiri community of the Opokuma Clan in Kolokuma/Opokuma area of Bayelsa, lamented that the initiative had not produced expected resultts in the past as many of the over 20, 000 ex-militants trained by the Amnesty office since inception eight years ago, still remained unemployed.

While calling for the judious use of the equipments provided by the Federal Government through the amnesty office, he said the gesture was a bold step in the concerted efforts by government to deepen peace, safety and security in the Niger Delta.

Prof. Dokubo also noted that the presentation of the entrepreneur starter pack is the last Phase in the process of Amnesty training,”this will show that the Niger Delta people are not lazy.But only need opportunities. ”

Dokubo, who had earlier paid a courtesy visit to the Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd) at the State Government House Yenagoa said the people of the Niger Delta would not have been suffering if the scheme had lived up to expectations.

He said his regime studied the failures in implementations of the programme and took a decision to refocus the scheme.

He said: “The amnesty programme has taken a new turn. Amnesty has been here for a very long time, but those of us from this state have not gained it effectively. If we have most of our people will not be suffering”.

He told the deputy governor that he came to the state to officially launch a new dawn in the implementation of the scheme to enable people in communities benefit from it.

Dokubo said his administration was focusing on the reintegration phase of the programme adding that President Muhammadu Buhari was interested in the scheme reaching rural communities.

“The people of the Niger Delta for a long time have been marginalised, ostracised and oppressed. But now we have come to a position where we can focus.

“I beleive that this system has changed. The objective of the government clearly states that they want to nurse back communities to health in such a way that they will be part of the bigger picture. Niger Deltans are not lazy. We work hard.

“Anybody who tells you that we are lazy is making a big mistake. How many persons can go into water early in the morning to catch fish? When the Federal Government decided to take this programme about training and reintegration, it was because it was necessary”.

He said the amnesty office would no longer allow beneficiaries of its empowerment programme to resell their starter packs.

He said henceforth the new thinking is to open workshops in the beneficiaries’ areas of trainings and monitor them for four months.

In his remarks, the deputy governor told the youths in the region to prepare for lives after amnesty.

“There must be an exit point. It cant last forever. But there must be programmes to exit. The exit must be painless “, he said.

He said the amnesty was designed to create opportunities for the Niger Delta people to compete with their peers.

But Jonah said there were areas the region needed to be given preferences like the Federal character.

He said the government would support the new vision of the amnesty office and asked beneficiaries to take advantage of the opportunity.

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