*Warns FG against neglecting Niger Delta ex-agitators
Director of Research at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State, Prof. Habu Galadima says the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Prof. Charles Dokubo, is providing the needed strategic leadership towards actualizing the objectives of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
He expressed his conviction while delivering a keynote address at a four-day capacity building training for executive and senior management of the Amnesty Programme with the theme, ‘Change and Organizational Renewal: Strategic Leadership and Employee Performance Development Programme’.
In a keynote address on ‘Transforming Regional Insecurity through Sustainable Social Integration Programme for ex-agitators in the Niger Delta’, Prof. Galadima, who is also the Chief Operating Officer of the Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre of NIPSS, lauded the achievements of the Amnesty Programme under Dokubo’s watch, but urged the Federal Government to see the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme as a continuum.
“Transformation can be deepened to enhance the reintegration process of Niger Delta ex-agitators; neglecting demobilized ex-agitators can lead to social unrest and national insecurity. The Amnesty Programme must be seen as a continuum”, Galadima emphasized.
While expressing dismay that the human security factors that triggered the armed struggle by the ex-agitators are yet to be addressed in the Niger Delta, he said no amount of funds is too much for the Amnesty Programme to maintain peace and security in the hitherto restive region. “Without security in the Niger Delta, there cannot be security in Nigeria”, Galadima declared.
In his opening remarks, Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, expressed President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination to ensure that the narrative of the Niger Delta is turned around. He said the Presidential Amnesty Programme was set up basically for the maintenance of peace and security as well as development of the Niger Delta area.
“The Amnesty Programme was set up as a necessity and so far, it has done well. The Programme is a vehicle to be driven to achieve the two key objectives. Slowly but surely, we shall overcome the challenges we are facing. I believe the people I am working with are passionate and have the same vision and drive to make the Niger Delta people proud”.
Dokubo said the Amnesty Programme vocational training centres at Agadagba, Ondo State, and Kaiama, Bayelsa State, are ready to come on stream and would be commissioned in the next two weeks for the training of beneficiaries of the Programme awaiting deployment, while work is ongoing to complete three other centres.
“We are opening the Ondo vocational training centre; it will be opened in the next two weeks. It will be a shining light of the Amnesty Programme. After this training, you will have a better focus to tell the story of Amnesty; if all of you address issues objectively, I believe we are on the way to higher heights”, Dokubo admonished participants at the session which included top and senior management staff of the Amnesty Programme.
Top flight resource persons were drawn from within and outside the shores of the country for the four-day training programme held at the Transcorp Metropolitan Hotel, Calabar, Cross Rivers State. It was organized by Consulting Network Limited, a public and private sector capacity building consulting firm in conjunction with the Office of the Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme.
