Presidential Amnesty Programme empowers 3,540 persons in N'Delta

Port Harcourt -- No fewer than 3,540 persons from impacted communities during the Niger Delta militancy crises have been empowered by the Presidential Amnesty Programme with various starter packs such as welding equipment, sewing machines, freezers, among others.

Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, flagged off the empowerment programme in Abonnema, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Dokubo said no fewer than 177 persons profiled from various communities for each of the 20 distribution centres across states in the Niger Delta, have received items for various trade areas, which included welding equipment, tailoring, catering, deep freezers, and generators of different sizes.

He said residents in various communities from Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states had benefited from the distribution exercise held in Warri, Opukiri, Ogwashukwu, Abonnema, Degema and Buguma; Eket/IkotIkpene in Akwa Ibom State; and Ohaji Egbema/Owerri in Imo State.

The programme was also ongoing at other centres, including Gelegele and Auchi in Edo State, Yakkur and Calabar South in Cross River State; others are Ilaje and Okitikpupa, Ondo State, as well as Ukwa East/West and Umuahia North/South, Abia State.

Dokubo warned recipients of the various items against selling what they got, but to make judicious use of them to eke a living.

"This is special empowerment for people who are not among the 30,000 beneficiaries captured in the Presidential Amnesty Programme; it is meant for people in crises-impacted communities in the Niger Delta. It is to demonstrate that the Amnesty Programme is for all the people of Niger Delta, and we care for you," he said.

The traditional ruler of Degema, King Reuben Zechariah Amos, urged the Federal Government to sustain and adequately fund the Amnesty Programme for effective transformation of the Niger Delta.