Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has said it is committed to ensure all beneficiaries of the amnesty programme receive vocational training or formal education to actualise the vision of the President Muhammadu Buhari for the Niger Delta region.
Mr Murphy Ganagana, special assistant (Media) to the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of PAP, Prof. Charles Quaker Dokubo, who disclosed that 11,297 beneficiaries out of the 30,000 captured in the amnesty programme database were yet to be placed on either vocational training or deployed for formal education as at when Dokubo took over, said 1,401 beneficiaries have, so far, been trained in various skills from March 2018, till date.
Ganagana, who made the disclosure during an interactive session with newsmen, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, noted that 1,165 beneficiaries out of those trained have, so far, been empowered in various trade areas. He said five Greek companies were set to train 2,500 amnesty delegates, out of which 2,000 would be employed at the end of their training.
According to him, 1,239 beneficiaries have been offered scholarship and deployed to 11 partnering institutions in Nigeria between January 30 and 31 2019, while 54 beneficiaries were set to be deployed on scholarship with 103 students currently studying in various courses in various foreign institutions.
Ganagana, who said the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) have formed a partnership in the areas of training for beneficiaries of the amnesty programme, noted that the partnership is one of the several initiatives introduced by the amnesty boss since he assumed duties.