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The second batch of former militants
from the Niger Delta, prepared for the federal government’s
rehabilitation exercise to be held at the National Vocational Training
Institute, Ghana, were on Thursday unveiled in Lagos prior to their
departure.

According to delegates from the Niger
Delta Amnesty Programme, the 212 former militants will undergo training
in wielding and fabrication techniques, and are expected to acquire
skills and knowledge aimed at empowering them both economically and
mentally. “We are very much on course and today’s gathering is premised
on the need to present to Nigerians through the media the second batch
of delegates set to travel offshore for vocational training,” said
Kingsley Kuku, the new Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta
Affairs. “Just last month, on the 8th of December 2010 to be precise,
38 transformed ex-militants were deployed to South Africa for
vocational training in marine related courses. This was the first set
of trainees to be deployed offshore in the ongoing reintegration phase
of the amnesty programme.”

Making them useful

According to Mr Kuku, the training will
take place in six different city locations in Ghana: Kumasi, Winnaba,
Kokomemele (Accra), Takoradi, Abetifi, and Biriwa. The campaign began
more than a year and half ago after the militants were pardoned and
granted amnesty by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Mr Kuku added
that a critical success factor of the amnesty initiative depends
largely on the success of the reintegration phase, which has kicked off
already with the allocation of trainees to centres across Nigeria and
overseas.

“Learning Resources Limited, a
Nigerian-based integrated education and vocational service provider,
partners the amnesty programme in facilitating the training of the
delegates in Ghana,” he said. “The initial number of 212 is a portion
of an estimated 1000 transformed ex-militants who have been short
listed to benefit from the similar training programme in Ghana. Since
the commencement of the Amnesty Reintegration phase in August 2010,
more than 7,000 transformed ex-militants have been allocated to both
local and offshore training centres, with more than 2,000 allocated for
education and vocational training offshore. In the coming weeks, more
delegates will travel to countries such as Malaysia, Romania, U.K,
U.S.A, Egypt, Poland, Netherlands, etc, to commence various types of
training.”

Happy with process

In an interview with journalists, Beggi
Fidelis, Camp Support Staff and an ex-militant, expressed hope that the
training will positively affect him and his colleagues. “I am happy to
be among those going for this training in Ghana, and we expect that we
will get the best from the institution that will help us to be able to
stand and make money on our own,” he said. Another former militant,
Egbine Robinson, assured Nigerians that they will be of good conduct
during the period of the training in Ghana. “We have gone through the
non-violence principles and as people that want to receive training to
better our lives, we are not going to misbehave in Ghana,” he said.