Re-training for thousands of Nigeria’s ex-militants who laid down arms under an amnesty deal in the restive oil-rich southern Niger Delta is set to get underway later this month, a minister said.
The training of the some 20,000 former armed rebels who were fighting for a fairer share of oil revenues to go to local communities, had initially been slated for the start of June.
But a junior minister for Niger Delta, Sam Ode, told an oil and gas technology conference in Lagos that the training to reorientate and equip the former combatants with skills would start in two weeks.
“A fortnight from now, the first batch of ex-militants will proceed for camping and training in Cross Rivers State (one of Nigeria’s nine oil-producing states),” the minister said.
He said the federal government was committed to help the ex-fighters change their orientation and ease their eventual re-integration into society.
It is also expected under the post-amnesty exercise that the former oil rebels will be handed cash support to assist them in setting up businesses.
Ode said peace in the Niger Delta since the amnesty has seen an increase in crude output to around two million barrels per day in this OPEC member.
Violence in the region from 2006 to last year played havoc with oil production which dropped to around a million barrels per day as against 2.6 million barrels at peak production level.
The Niger Delta is rich in oil and gas, but most of its inhabitants live in poverty. Many get by on less than one dollar per day, fuelling an armed struggle and unrest in the region until the amnesty.