The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Brig- Gen. Paul Boroh (retd), on Friday appealed to the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups in the region to leave the creeks and enlist in the amnesty programme for a better future.
He made the appeal while welcoming four ex-militants from the region who were successfully trained in electrical transformer repairs, maintenance and establishment by a vendor to the amnesty office, Brainbox Matrix Services Limited.
According to him, the intention of President Muhammadu Buhari was to stabilize the Niger Delta region through human capacity building and infrastructural development.
He said: “First, I appreciate the President for sustaining this programme because if not for his giving us go ahead to continue training the ex-agitators, it would have been difficult for us to achieve this great feat today.
“You can imagine a group of persons who have transformed from militancy to be electrical engineers, obviously I’m very proud of it because it has been a success story. And my appreciation goes to Mr. President for his determination and commitment to stabilizing the Niger Delta region through human capacity building as well as infrastructural development.
“In this case, it is two in one, the ex-agitators, 23 of them have developed their human capacity in terms of skills acquisition in transformer maintenance and establishment. This has transformed these persons from whom they were to the present as well as the refurbishment of transformer which will now supply power to the environment where it is deployed.
“For those still in the creeks, this is a challenge. It is an opening, a wider platform for them to emulate and embrace so that their capacity will also be developed, instead of wasting the human resource elements in them. This means opportunities are open to them whether they are agitators or not.”
