The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have agreed to tackle pipeline ine vandalism, unemployment and other challenges in the Niger Delta region.
The agreement was
reached when PAP's Interim Administrator, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd) led a
delegation to visit the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari
Dikio according to a
statement by his Special Adviser Media, Neotaobase Egbe , said the
meeting was strategic and in line with the objective of PAP to partner with all
relevant stakeholders for the full implementation of the amnesty
programme.
The statement issued
to newsmen on Saturday in Yenagoa said PAP was courting willing partners to
have a robust synergy to drive the Niger Delta Recovery Plan (NDRP) to
fruition.
He noted that though
PAP was executing its own role in reintegrating 30,000 ex-agitators captured by
the Presidency, there was a need to strengthen partnership between sister
agencies of the government for the sustainable development of the Niger
Delta.
He said the NNPC like
other institutions of government had roles to play in oil assets
redistribution, infrastructural development and environmental
remediation.
Dikio said that there
was a need to control disruptions in oil production, saying destructive
energies could be channelled into productive ventures through re-orientation
and sustained advocacy.
He also said that PAP
had made efforts to cut down irrelevant trainings and had become intentional
about successfully empowering its delegates.
He said trainings over
the years had become contractor-driven and were not meeting the beneficiaries’
needs.
Dikio explained that
the PAP was targeting functional businesses that had the capacity to train,
employ and mentor delegates into becoming successful business
owners.
“For instance, if we
have someone that has a commercial poultry farm and we partner with them to
train our delegates, they will be employed after their training. In the course
of 2 years and 5 months they will be taken through the ropes of poultry farming
before they are sent out to start their own poultry.
“It is a win-win for
everybody. We did the research and we discovered that the cassava plant in
Bayelsa needs about 20,000 metric tons of cassava daily, so there is ample
opportunity for our delegates to go into that kind of business.
"Again, palm oil
when sold in international markets is above $1000 a ton and here, we are in the
region only focusing on oil and gas". The statement read in part.
Dikio further said
there were arrays of businesses the PAP was looking to inject delegates into,
adding that exceptional graduates under the PAP scholarship scheme had
more opportunities for employment.
In his remarks, the
NNPC GMD, Mele Kyari, commended Dikio for the efforts to ensure peace in the
Niger Delta and emphasized the need to sustain the peace through accommodation
and inclusiveness of Niger Delta youths.
He regretted the
inability of the oil industry to fulfill its obligations to the region over the
years, saying that it was one of the reasons the amnesty programme had
prolonged.
He said: "As we
speak today, we have seen a number of increasing incidents of unrest; cases
that remind us of the past we don’t want to recollect again.
"Therefore,
everything you have said points to the fact that inclusion, support and
empowerment for young people particularly in the Niger-Delta will bring peace
and development to the Niger-Delta. No amount of resources available to you
will give you peace except there is alignment with the respective players in
the space".
Kyari said the award
of licences to investors to begin production on about 57 marginal oil fields
within Niger Delta in 2022 was designed to support businesses that
originated from the region because most of the beneficiaries from the marginal
field programme were indigenes of the Niger Delta.
He said working
together would bring lasting peace to the region explaining that the number of
experienced technical people produced from the programme, would easily fill
employment opportunities.
"Once you create
opportunities and investments return, more employment opportunities will come.
“I think it is a good
thing that we work together, both the amnesty programme and all other actors in
this space to bring the lasting peace to the Niger Delta and across our
country, where people can benefit because ultimately if we cannot give, there
will be nothing to show in another five to ten years, that is the reality that
we are in.” Kyari said
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