Mr. Daniel Alabrah, a former deputy editor of The Sun Newspapers, is Head, Media and Communication of the Federal Government's amnesty programme. He met with selected journalists in Warri, last Saturday, during which he spoke on a number of issues, including the task of developing the Niger Delta region.
THE
HEAD, Media and Communication of the Presidential Amnesty Office, Mr.
Daniel Alabrah, has advised the Federal Government not to see the
granting of amnesty to former militant agitators in the Niger Delta
region as a means to an end of the crisis in the region.
Alabrah,
who spoke in Warri, Delta State, at the weekend, said it is part of the
holistic approach to the development of the region as initiated by the
late former President Umar Yar'Adua.
Similarly,
the amnesty spokesperson also cautioned against seeing the amnesty
programme as celebration of violence, even as he clarified that it is
now improper to refer to the former armed youths as ex-militants.
He
said: “These were youths who once took up arms against the federal
government requesting for the development of the Niger Delta. They were
armed then, so we referred to them as militant, but after they were
granted amnesty we then referred to them as ex-militants.
“But
now that they have passed through the 3-phase internationally required
for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Re-integration programme, we can
now refer to them as Niger Delta youths because we have reintegrated
them back and we don't need to call them by their former status”.
“They
have gone through a process starting from disarmament to demobilization
and now they are in the reintegration stage which means the process of
reintegration into the society has almost gone full circle so you can no
longer refer to them as militants.”
On
those agitating for inclusion in the programme, Alabrah remarked that
it is only President Goodluck Jonathan who can include them in the old
list or approve another phase for their training. He said that the
amnesty programme have been generally close to 'militants' stressing
that the Amnesty Office does not recognize anybody as 'ex-militant'
under any guise rather those those youths that were enlisted during the
proclamation of the amnesty programme and have now passed through the
DDM stage and now being classify as Niger Delta youths.
It
would be recalled that in the initial process of the programme, the
former militants and their 'commanders' surrendered their arms to the
Joint Task Force as part of the disarmament phase. Their arms and
ammunition were recorded by a special unit that was set up in the Joint
Task Force, 'Operation Restore Hope'.
Thereafter,
the youths were demobilized and later moved to the training camp in
Obrubra, Cross Rivers State, where they underwent the first training
geared towards their re-assimilation into the society. From there, they
were sent to various locations across the world for trainings suited to
their knowledge, education and interests.
Alabrah
gave a thumb up to the amnesty programme under Kingsley Kuku, stating
that so far the amnesty office has being fulfilling its mandate and
still trying to sustain the peace now being enjoyed in the Niger Delta.
Already,
he disclosed that the efforts of the executors of the programme are
already yielding fruit with the increase in the nation's crude
production to the highest level in decades. He maintained that the
amnesty office has a mandate, which does not include infrastructural
development of the region.
He
clarified that the task of development lies with the Ministry of Niger
Delta Affairs and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as well as
other government agencies saddled with such responsibilities to take
advantage of the peace which the amnesty programme have brought to start
massive development of the region.
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