The creation of job opportunities for Niger Delta indigenes, who have been trained under the Presidential Amnesty Programme, will be vigorously pursued this year, Professor Charles Dokubo, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, has said.
Speaking during an interaction session with journalists in Abuja, Dokubo, who is also the Coordinator of the PAP, said: “Job placement is the next stage of my plan for this year and I believe that if we can achieve that, we are going to do well. The people of the Niger Delta will not cry their old cries again that they have been marginalized.
“The amount of money government had spent on this programme is a lot and I know that if we judiciously expend it, most people from the Niger Delta will benefit immensely. I want this programme to be a success, if not, our children yet unborn will keep asking us what we have done for them if we say we have fought for Niger Delta.
“This tale about being deprived should not be something we should keep saying. We have been given access. No part of Nigeria has more agencies than the Niger Delta. Now that we have these things, I implore the people of Niger Delta to know that the sky is their beginning if they will work when they are given a job.”
He added, “We have signed an MOU with to the National Board for Technology Incubation, NBTI, so that our people will not just be trained by certain individuals, they will also be certificated by a known body and with their certificates they can used them to look for jobs.
“I always say government can create the enabling environment which individuals can take the initiative by employing other citizens. That is what I want to do. I told you about the Greek fishing company that will train 2,500 of our delegates and they are going to employ 2000 of them.
“We are making strides in the right direction, so it is not just training for training sake, it is training to get a job.
“Job placement is now the motto of the Amnesty Office and at the end, we will get beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme gainfully employed and be made employable so that we can also know that we have done something for our people.
“Looking at the region where we are coming, the major sector for job is the oil industry. That is why the Agadagba training centre is there for middle and lower level oil and gas manpower to be absorbed by the companies. Also, Nigeria is no longer an oil producing country, it s more of a gas producing country.
“So, these are the areas that we want them to be employed and if they grow with these new companies, I know that in 10 years to come, they will be highly rated in the industry and could also set up their own in most cases and run it.”
