Calls for extension of Delta amnesty programme

                                              
 Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has called for the continuation of the amnesty programme, whose future is in uncertain.

Wike made the appeal during an audience with the Presidential Adviser and Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme, Brigadier-General Paul Boroh, at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

He said the peace enjoyed in the Niger Delta is predicated on the Programme.

“The sustenance of the programme will further enhance peace, stabilise the economy and generate empowerment," he said.

He said it was important to note that peace enjoyed today in the Niger Delta was largely due to the programme.

"We encourage the Federal Government to sustain the amnesty programme. We will give the Federal Government all necessary support at our level,” Wike said.

Along those lines, Rivers has established an amnesty office at the Government House to liaise with the office of the coordinator of the Amnesty Programme.

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The office would assist monitor ex-militants in the state to ensure stability.

“The era of politics is gone. This is time for governance, intergovernmental partnership and development,” Wike said.

Boroh called on the state government to partner with his office to achieve the goals of the amnesty programme, which is to end militant and oil theft activities in the region.

He said Rivers State had 7652 beneficiaries of the amnesty programme, with some 4 310 beneficiaries involved in skills acquisition and vocational training.

Boroh added that he is interested in a sustainable amnesty programme which will enhance the security of the region.

Initiated by then-President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2009, the scheme shields militants who give up arms in the fight for oil in the Delta immunity from prosecution.
The programme is set to lapse at the end of this year.