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| Hon. Kingsley Kuku |
Speaking at a valedictory press briefing in Abuja, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme noted that the Niger Delta has now become so calm that several Nigerians were beginning to understate or out-rightly forget the overarching national security imperative of that part of the country saying, “this should not be.” The amnesty programme, Kuku noted is one of FG’s programmes that surpass all expectation adding that a total of 30,000000 people were registered for amnesty. Before the amnesty, Nigeria oil production went down to about 685,000bpd, immediately following the offer of amnesty and its acceptance by the Niger Delta agitators, Oil production astronomically raised to 2.6milion bpd in the last five years, surpassing by several nudges, the pre-conflict levels. Let us not forget the Niger Delta Issue, says Kingsley Kuku. We can’t stand crises in the North East and militancy activities in the Niger Delta region.
The success of the Presidential Amnesty Programme for ex-agitators in the Niger Delta was no longer in doubt but a lot needs to be done to deepen the gains of the Programme and consolidate peace, safety and security in the zone and the Gulf of Guinea. “It must be clarified that the Niger Delta struggle was not to secure training or skill acquisition opportunities for 30,000 youths only. No, the struggle was for much more. First, the Federal and other tiers of Government really need to speedily redeem the developmental pledges made to the people of the Niger Delta in the Amnesty proclamation,” Kuku said. “I can boldly affirm that the Amnesty proclamation and the DDR programme for former agitators in the Niger Delta have generally met the desired goal, which is the stabilization of security conditions in the strategic Niger Delta. ‘It is my candid view that in spite of the huge investments being made in the prosecution of the war against insurgents in the Northeastern parts of the country, it behooves Nigeria to continue to deepen the peace, safety and security in the Niger Delta, which is the nation’s economic mainstay. It is on this score that I seek to candidly advise the in-coming government to, for now, retain the Presidential Amnesty Programme for former agitators in the Niger Delta,” the Presidential Adviser urged. According to the Presidential Adviser, the commitment made by the Government to decisively address the issues of the participation of the people in the Niger Delta in the exploration and exploitation of their God-given natural resources; the cleanup and remediation of their 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.
He urged the federal government not to take the programme for granted saying the reason some non-militants were accommodated in the programme was that the communities where they held from also suffered from the activities of both the militants and that of the Nigerian Army’s attempt to curb the crises. He maintained that the amnesty programme is in three phases of which phase one and two are on the brims of completion while the third face was yet to commence with a total number of 3,656 out of 6,166 new set were accommodated into the third badge. He said out of the 30,000 persons, over 20,000 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. “We have in the last five years made the region conducive for investments. You will agree with me that new investments would stimulate the economies of States in this zone and create employment opportunities for several of the youths that have been offered skills under the Amnesty Programme, he stated. He revealed that a total number of 1320 beneficiaries of the amnesty are in various universities across the world while 1583 are studying in various private universities in Nigeria. Among the numerous students studying oversea under the programme, 250 are in the USA studying various courses, 600 are in different universities in the United Kingdom.
The Amnesty Programme has so far produced 67 Commercial Pilot License (CPL) holders, out of which, 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. He recalled that at the peak of the crisis in 2009 Nigeria’s crude production fell as low as 700,000 barrels per day. Owing to the success of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Nigeria’s crude production, in the last five years has hovered between 2.2 – 2.7m bpd. “Owing to this huge media support for the Presidential Amnesty Programme, the Niger Delta, the economic mainstay of our dear nation, which was once notorious for its restiveness, is today, the most peaceful and the most investment friendly part of our dear nation. I insist also that owing to your support, our humble efforts at the Amnesty Office has aided the deepening of safety and security in the entire Gulf Guinea, thereby helping to buoy the economy of our dear nation”, he added. All the ex-agitators who were in the creeks fighting against the federal government and impacting against investments and oil production have since been fully disarmed, demobilized and are either currently in training or have since been trained with a view to adding to national GDP and improving themselves and their families. Sharing his experience in the last four years as the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kuku noted that the Federal Government had pledged to decisively address those issues that led to militancy in the first place – issues of resource control, environmental remediation, shore protection, pollution and gas flaring, provision of critical infrastructure as well as construction of coastal roads, bridges and railway lines.
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