Prof. Charles Dokubo, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Matters and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), has stated that the Niger Delta and the Gulf of Guinea corridors can only experience peace when youths of the region are gainfully employed.
He came up with this while speaking on the occasion of the distribution of start-up parks to 150 trained ex-agitators of the Niger Delta enlisted in the PAP at Boro Town, Kaiama, in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Dokubo said that gainful employment was “the fastest and easiest way” to guarantee peace along the Niger Delta and Gulf of Guinea routes.
According to him, the Federal Government had invested heavily in training the former creek warlords through the amnesty programme in some of the best schools and vocational training facilities both in Nigeria and abroad.
“However, we have realised that it is dangerous to train persons and then leave them idle.
“The provision of jobs and empowerment for the youths of the Niger Delta must be a collective effort by all stakeholders; federal, state and local governments; oil and gas multinationals as well as other service providers in the region,” Dokubo said.
The presidential adviser particularly called on the oil and gas firms operating in the region to intensify on their corporate social responsibility profile to improve social capital, reduce poverty, and promote economic development and wealth creation.
He also advised that oil revenue should be used to diversify the economy which he noted had been dependent on oil and gas resource, create employment and a better standard of living for the country’s predominantly young population.
Dokubo said President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to peace in the Niger Delta and appealed to the people not to disrupt the peace in the area.
Gabriel Amadi, one of the beneficiaries of the PAP who trained in fisheries in 2016, said he had been empowered by the programme as he had also diversified into poultry farming and currently has over 300 birds in his farm.
Daily Independent
