The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, says the Amnesty Office has trained a total of 1,401 beneficiaries in various skills in the last year.
Dokubo told journalists on Sunday in Warri in Delta State that a total of 1,165 of the trained beneficiaries had been empowered in various trades since March 2018 when he assumed office.
According to him, plans have been concluded with five Greece-owned companies to train 2,500 amnesty delegates.
He added that 2,000 of the amnesty delegates would be employed at the end of the training.
According to the Special Assistant to the Amnesty Coordinator on media, Mr. Murphy Ganagana, 1, 230 beneficiaries of the programme had been offered scholarship and deployed to 11 partnering institutions in Nigeria between January and March 2019.
He added that 54 beneficiaries will be deployed on scholarship to various offshore institutions in 2019.
“At the moment, 103 students are studying various courses in institutions across the globe.
“The 30,000 persons enlisted in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, 11,297 persons were yet to be placed in either vocational training facilities or deployed for formal education as at March 13, 2018 when we assumed office.
“Between March 13, 2018 and now, a total of 1,401 beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme have been trained in various skills and 1,165 of the trained beneficiaries have been empowered in their various trade.
“The Job Placement and International Development Partners Engagement Unit (JPIDPEU) created in May 2018 profiled 28 delegates for underwater welding jobs in oil servicing companies,” Ganagana quoted the Coordinator as saying.
He explained that 100 delegates have been profiled for civil service jobs and 10 delegates for aviation crop spray pilot jobs.
“The Amnesty Office has also concluded profiling 25 delegates for catering services, hotel and fast food jobs and 75 for other job opportunities,” he said.
The Amnesty Programme was initiated by late President Musa Yar’Adua in 2009 to address the age-long neglect and marginalisation of the Niger Delta region, which is the economic nerve of the country.
GIK/APA