AMNESTY OFFICE LAUDS KANO ON AIR PILOT SCHEME …WARNS EX-AGITATORS OVER FALSE CLAIMS

PRESS STATEMENT AMNESTY OFFICE LAUDS KANO ON AIR PILOT SCHEME …WARNS EX-AGITATORS OVER FALSE CLAIMS   The Presidential Amnesty Office has described the initiative of the Kano State Government to train youths of the state as aircraft pilots as very commendable. The state government on Thursday commenced a pilot training programme for 100 graduates of the state origin in a televised deployment of the beneficiaries. Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, said the initiative will go a long way in stemming youth restiveness in the state and in the country. He said it is heartwarming that a state government was taking after an initiative of the Federal Government, which through the amnesty programme is bridging the global shortage of qualified pilots and core aviation industry personnel. “The aircraft pilot training scheme of the Kano State Government is very commendable. It not only complements what the Federal Government is doing through the aviation training component of the amnesty programme, but it also contributes towards bridging the shortage of qualified pilots and core aviation professionals globally. Figures from Boeing show there is a global need for close to 500,000 more commercial pilots by 2029, which is an average of 25,000 new pilots a year,” Kuku said. The PAP chairman, who is also Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, urged states in the Niger Delta, whose youths continually besiege the Amnesty Office to be engaged in its training programme, to borrow a leaf from Kano. In a related development, the Amnesty Office has warned some leaders of the former Niger Delta agitators making false claims of non-payment of travelling allowances and special salaries to desist forthwith. It said those making the claims were being economical with the truth. “In December 2012, no fewer than 68 leaders of the former agitators, in two batches, went to South Africa for a week-long non-violence/business development training. Every one of them was paid his travelling allowance and other logistics expenses. It is not true that the chairman promised to pay them any other allowance apart from what was due to them for the trip. Those making the claim need to show proof that they did not receive their travelling allowances.” The office also dismissed as unfounded the claim that there was no evidence of items purchased for victims of last year’s flooding in five Niger Delta states as the presentation of the items was widely reported in both the print and electronic media. “The items purchased with the donations by the former agitators were presented in November 2012 to the flood relief committees in the affected five states of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Cross River, which had the responsibility of distributing the items to victims of the disaster. The various presentations were shown on television and reported in various newspapers across the country. It is indeed malicious for a few of them to now claim there was no evidence of purchase of these items. “The Amnesty Office feels strongly about these unfounded allegations and warns those feeding the media with falsehood to desist forthwith from impugning the hard-earned reputation of the PAP chairman, Hon. Kuku.” DANIEL ALABRAH HEAD, MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS PRESIDENTIAL AMNESTY OFFICE ABUJA