The Federal Government of Nigeria has embarked on full degree certificate programmes for ex-militants from the Niger Delta region of the country.
The development, which is part of the presidential amnesty program aimed at rehabilitating former militants in the region, is the first of its kind by the government since it started the demobiliation, rehabilitation and reintegration training for the former militants.
“This is the first set of ex-combatants to be trained on selected degree courses and today’s event is unique in the sense that the delegates we are sending forth today are not going to skill acquisition or vocational training centres. They are going to the university,” said Kingsley Kuku, Special Adviser to the president on Niger Delta Matters, at an orientation ceremony for 74 ex-combatants leaving the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos for Malaysia.
Mr Kuku disclosed that the delegate being sent to Malaysia are to be rewarded with various degrees in Business Management and Engineering, adding that education counsellors will be on ground to guide the recipients in the accurate choice of courses that is best suitable for them.
“The 74 transformed ex-militants we are sending forth today will begin degree programs at the Linton University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a three year degree program under various faculty headings,” he said.
“They are being primed to become gainfully employed both in the formal and informal sectors. Of course a number of them will eventually become employers of labour themselves.”
Late last month, 42 ex-combatants from the region were sent to South Africa for vocational training and two members from the set, according to the Special Adviser, absconded from the group while at the Lagos airport, a development which Mr Kuku described as “disappointing.”
Counsel from Nigerians
Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer and president of West African Bar Association, who is based in Lagos, advised the delegates to be dedicated and determined in their pursuit of higher degrees. He also urged them to stop seeing themselves as ex-militants.
“You are not militants but freedom fighters who deserve the federal government’s amnesty, so wherever you are in Malaysia you must shame those who don’t want you to succeed and you should know that you are ambassadors of our great country,” he said.
Musiliu Obanikoro, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana implored the trainees to be of good behaviour and demanded that they ensure they are registered with the country’s mission in Malaysia, so as to get all necessary information and assistance from the Nigerian Embassy there.
“The last time Nigeria engaged in a similar program like this was in the eighties and now people involved are benefiting from it together with their children; so I implore you to make judicious use of the opportunity given you today,” he said.