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Amnesty programme trains 20,000 youths, seeks employment for trainees

By Abosede Musari, Abuja
04 June 2015   |   3:35 am
THE Presidential Amnesty Programme said it trained 20,000 of the 30,000 beneficiaries enlisted in the programme in the last administration.
goodluck jonathan

Jonathan

THE Presidential Amnesty Programme said it trained 20,000 of the 30,000 beneficiaries enlisted in the programme in the last administration.

Chairman of the programme under Former President Goodluck Jonathan, Kingsley Kuku told a press conference in Abuja at the weekend that the over 20,000 beneficiaries have either graduated or are currently in universities or vocational training centres both within the country and abroad for various skills acquisition programmes and formal education.

“1,320 of our delegates are currently in world-class universities in the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Canada, Malaysia, The Philippines, Australia, South Africa, Russia and Ghana. Similarly, the Amnesty Programme currently has 1,583 delegates in private Universities in Nigeria.

Their courses of study in formal education are wide ranging including law, political science, international relations, engineering, accounting and medicine”, he said.

“In the four years that I have superintended over the Amnesty Programme, some of my most memorable experiences on the job have been flying with our trainee pilots in reputable aviation training schools across the world. The Amnesty Programme has so far produced 67 Commercial Pilot License (CPL) holders.

Of this number, 30 already trained Commercial Pilots are currently undergoing their jet type-rating at the two best aviation institutions in the world: CAE Oxford in England and the Lufthansa Training School in Germany”, Kuku added.

Noting that the amnesty programme was just one of the programmes earmarked for Niger Delta development, Kuku urged the new government to look into issues of remediation of polluted environment, the provision of critical infrastructure, the speedy completion of the east-west road, the construction of the coastal roads, bridges and rail lines in the Niger Delta.

“In a nutshell, it remains my candid view that the Federal Government of Nigeria should adopt the European-style Marshal Plan to provide special funding through the National Assembly, to actualize these commitments made to the people of the Niger Delta”, he said.

He urged the oil companies in the region to consider employing the beneficiaries who have been trained by the amnesty programme. “The Amnesty Office has aided a number of them to secure gainful employment or business setup.

However, many of them remain unemployed. To achieve lasting peace in the zone, all hands must be on deck to provide employment and empowerment opportunities for these youths and other youths in the Niger Delta who are not covered by the Presidential Amnesty Programme but need training and employment”, he implored.

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