FG seeks new identity for ex-militants

Posted by admin Niger Delta Friday, April 22nd, 2011

The Presidential Amnesty Office has expressed concern over the identity crisis, facing former combatants in the Niger Delta. The Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta and Chief Executive Officer of the Amnesty Office, Kingsley Kuku, who expressed the worry in Lagos yesterday during a media breakfast, said having undergone non-violent transformational training and re-orientation programme, it was no longer proper to address the Niger Delta youths as militants or combatants.

Kuku reasoned that in line with United Nations rules on disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation, the proper thing is to identify them as former agitators. The presidential aide disclosed that the tag ‘ex-militants,’ had affected some of the youths, who applied for visas for vocational training in some European countries.

“This is one of the challenges we are facing. Even some of the boys identity themselves as ex-militants, which is a tag some embassies are not comfortable with. But I’m confident we will surmount it and that is why we are soliciting the support of the media to achieve this.
“Having undergone non-violent transformational training in our camp at Obubra and with some of them now undergraduates in universities abroad and trainees in vocational centres in Nigeria, it is no longer proper to refer to them as militants.

“They have surrendered arms and renounced violence and we are helping to re-integrate them into the society. So the process should be total, including how they are identified,” he said.
Kuku, however, commended the United States Ambassador in Nigeria for granting visas to 38 of the youths, who left for the Wyotech Institute in Florida on Wednesday for a six-month training in marine technology, adding that another group would leave soon for Houston.

“We are very happy some of the trainees just left for the U.S. Another set will leave for Houston in a few days. For us, this is a breakthrough and we are hopeful other embassies will follow suit. The amnesty programme is on course and President Goodluck Jonathan is committed to its success,” Kuku added.

He identified some of the challenges faced by the programme to include lack of commitment by oil firms operating in the Niger Delta as well as refusal of some of the governors in the region to accept the former agitators as transformed youths. Responding to a question on the duration of the amnesty programme, Kuku explained that it was not the same for every one that had keyed into the programme.

“For those who are qualified to undergo degree courses in the university, the programme will be for the duration of their courses, which, for instance, is not the same for those who undergo six-month vocational training. But the point of disengagement for all of them after their training is when they have been engaged in meaningful ventures. We will ensure that those that completed their training are meaningfully engaged.”

-Sunwp_posts