The Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd) has mandated contractors hired by the scheme to turn ex-agitators that would be sent to their firms into entrepreneurs in line with the novel Train, Employ and Mentor (TEM) model.
Dikio insisted that the vendors must ensure that each ex-agitator received enough training that would make him an employer of labour and an owner of a functional enterprise at the end of the programme.
The amnesty boss in a one-day sensitisation workshop organized by PAP in Abuja at the weekend to teach contractors the TEM model warned that vendors must stick to their terms of reference.
He explained that the model was developed as a paradigm shift to change the narrative of past failed training methods with the key objectives of transforming ex-agitators into successful business owners or employable citizens that would contribute to the economy of the Niger Delta.
Dikio, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Media, Neotabase Egbe, said with the wealth in the Niger Delta and opportunities available in maritime, agriculture and oil and gas, the region had no excuses for poverty.
He told the firms that he would like to see beneficiaries, who no longer depended on hand-outs and monthly stipends at the end of their training.
Dikio said: “There is no excuse for poverty in the Niger Delta; the days of blaming people are over, and it is time to get your hands in the soil.
“One of the essential goals is to turn our ex-agitators from being dependent on stipends and hand-outs to entrepreneurs and employers of labour and train them to be equipped to take advantage of all the opportunities that are in the oil and gas sector, maritime and agriculture sector in the Niger Delta.
“Over the years, everybody in the Niger Delta has raved about crude oil, but right under our nose is palm oil, which is more expensive than crude oil. So, the bottom line is that there’s no excuse for poverty in the Niger Delta. We must find ways to maximize the opportunities there in”.
Harping on the importance of food security, the amnesty boss said there must be a symbiotic relationship between delegates and farmers.
He said in the spirits of shared prosperity, vendors should establish partnership to create more impact and benefit from bigger opportunities.
Firms, which had been awarded contracts by PAP are, Betrieb Limited, Oil & Gas Consultancy Limited, Express Concerns Limited, Giolee Global Resources Limited, Sunup Logistics Limited, Teecentinel Nigeria Limited, Vika Farms and Kris-Dera Agro Allied Farms Limited.
They are expected to train over 2,500 delegates on metal works, solar, plumbing and woodwork, psychometric assessment on oil and gas, rice, fish and poultry farming as well as oil spill control and remediation.
Others are marine-related skills, cassava processing and starch production and livestock farming.

By: Akujobi Amadi