Amnesty Programme Introduces Counselling, Mentoring For Ex-agitators

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), has introduced counselling and mentoring of ex-agitators in order to curb all forms of unrest in the Niger Delta region, especially street protests.

The programme, which was initiated by the PAP interim administrator, Major-General Barry Ndiomu (rtd), was aimed at helping ex-agitators deal with stress-related challenges that could push them into violent reactions.

Speaking to newsmen after a resilience building workshop in Port Harcourt yesterday, the chairman of PAP Strategic Communications Committee (SCC), Nature Dumale, said it was part of Ndiomu’s efforts to eliminate all threats to the existing peace in the Niger Delta.

The workshop, organised by PAP was attended by all members of the strategic committee as well as other ex-agitators in the region.

Dumale said the PAP boss adopted the strategy after realising that mental exhaustion, lack of alternative dispute resolution mechanism and knowledge gap among ex-agitators and other stakeholders were the reasons for some violent actions in the region.

He stated that following the importance of the knowledge gathered from the workshop, the Amnesty Office was making efforts to organise it in the nine states of the Niger Delta.

The committee chairman said, “Every effort is being made by the current Interim Administrator, PAP, Major General Ndiomu (Rtd) to completely stop all forms of threats to peace in the Niger Delta.

“The Interim administrator wants to curb anything that could bring renewed violent agitation in the region. This training on resilience building is necessary, timely and complements other programmes introduced by the interim administrator.

“He came up with the establishment of cooperatives to transform ex-agitators from stipend earners to entrepreneurs.

“So, this training makes delegates to understand that no matter the challenges encountered in their entrepreneurial efforts, they should not give up but continue to push on to realise their objectives. So, this training coming before the kick-off of the cooperative programme is a welcomed development.

“We thank the interim administrator for the wisdom in rolling out this training at this time. We plead with him to take the training to all the nine states of the Niger Delta and to make it compulsory for all ex-agitators. We are grateful to him and we appreciate his leadership.”