Amnesty programme in dilemma over reintegration of 7,652 ex-militants

The Muhammadu Buhari administration appears to be in a quandary on continuing with the amnesty programme. At the time, there are great challenges over the reintegration of more than 7,600 ex-militants, said Paul Boroh, presidential adviser and coordinator, Amnesty Programme, in Port Harcourt.

Boroh, who was in Rivers State to consult with Governor Nyesom Wike, said so far, only about 4,310 out of a total of 7,652 ex-militants had undergone some form of educational capacity programme or vocational skills acquisition programme in six years of the amnesty initiative.

There remains the challenge of achieving sustainable reintegration of all the beneficiaries of the amnesty programme the coordinator said.

“What we want to achieve is to ensure that we have the beneficiaries of the amnesty programme well managed by the state,” he said.

According to him, there is need to achieve effective command and control of the ex-militants, so as to ultimately achieve a sustainable security placement for them.

On his part, Wike agreed to partner the Presidency on the successful reintegration of ex-militants through the Niger Delta Amnesty programme.

Wike, while receiving Boroh at Government House, Port Harcourt, said, as a government, they would give all the necessary support to the amnesty programme, especially as it pertained to the reintegration of thousands of ex-gunmen in the oil producing region.

He promised to create an office in the Government House, with a staff that would interface with the amnesty coordinator from time to time to know what support amnesty office needed.

Governor Wike noted that there was relative peace in Rivers State and the Niger-Delta region, commending the Federal Government on the continued sustenance of the programme, sayng that “the peace we are enjoying today is largely because of the Niger Delta Amnesty programme.”

There is need to effectively monitor the movements and activities of the ex-militants and make inputs where necessary, to forestall any unforeseen contingencies.

BEN EGUZOZIE