AMNESTY OFFICE DEFENDS EX-MILITANTS EMPLOYMENT IN S’AFRICA

September 6, 2012 by Fidelis Soriwei,

Abuja Presidential Amnesty Office has defended the employment of ex-Niger Delta militant graduates of the Amnesty Programme by South African firms. Head of Media and Communications of the Amnesty Office, Mr. Dan Alabrah, said in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Wednesday that the office was in support of the engagement of the ex-agitators because there were no provision of job opportunities for them. He said the fact that the South African firms found the youths worthy of employment had showed that the standard of their training was high. Alabrah added that the development had boosted the image of the country and amnesty programme. He said if the ex-militants had rejected the offers, they would have had to contend with the anxiety of looking for job after their training programme. Alabrah said the African Union Aviation Academy, Masikieng, South Africa, had written the Amnesty Office to release one of the trainees, a pilot, to serve as an instructor at the academy. He added that four other ex-agitators, trained in codd welding, had also been engaged by a foreign firm. He stated also that some of the aviation trainees had applied for further training in Canada. He urged Nigerians not to categorise the engagement of the amnesty trainees by foreign organisations as brain drain. He said, “If they don’t take the opportunity, unemployment may threaten in the future, they may be in the labour market. It is to the benefits of Nigeria, it is not the issue of brain drain. They are still Nigerians, we are not losing them. “It is an attestation to the fact that the programme is already transforming the lives of Niger Delta youths. “I think five of them were initially employed. The school is already appealing to Nigeria to release him (Bassey Henshaw); he has already qualified as a private pilot. “About 47 have got their private licence and they are training for their commercial licence. And to be frank, the office has nothing against their engagement. “They are appealing to Nigeria to release one of the boys to come to African Union Aviation Academy, Masikieng. “They have made representations to us for us to release him, we don’t have anything against it.” Alabrah said the FG was responding to the warning by the United Nations that the world would be needing 100,000 pilots by training pilots through the amnesty programme. He said the office was already into the training of pilots that would take over from the current generation of ageing pilots. He said the ex-agitators were being trained as pilots in South Africa, United States, Greece and Dubai.