Programmes for devt of N-Delta must not fail, S-South Reps warn Alaibe

By Luka Binniyat
The South-South Parliamentary caucus of the House of Representatives last week paid an unscheduled visit to the office of the Presidential Adviser to the President on the Niger Delta and the National Coordinator of the Federal Government Post-Amnesty Programme, Mr. Timi Alaibe, and warned that since the South-South had now produced the President, all programmes meant for the development of the Niger Delta must not fail.

The lawmakers said their visit was borne out of concern on the implementation of the rehabilitation programme for ex-militants.

“For over 50 years, our people have fought for justice and we have paid dearly for it,” said Hon. Andrew Uchendu, Chairman of the caucus who led the members to the visit.

“Today God has made it possible for us to produce the President, “this government is the architect of the amnesty programme, and it is the implementer too, it cannot afford to fail. Our destiny is now in our hands, we have no reason to complain again, if we don’t get it right this time,” he said

Waiver

He, however, said from his findings, in spite of complaints by some youths who claimed to be ex-militants but excluded from the programme, the take-off of the rehabilitation project for them at Obubra in Cross River State has been impressive.

He then asked that the claims by the youths of being militants who did not surrender before the October 4, 2009 deadline, should be looked into and treated according to its merits.

Rehab programme recording success

On his part, Alaibe inform the Reps that the rehabilitation programme is working well and recording success.

He expressed regrets that it was only the President who could grant waivers to this group of ex-militants and not the amnesty implementation committee.

According to him, 1,858 of the 8019 ex-militants who followed due process and registered participated in the first batch of the transformational training.

The state-by-state distribution of the ex-militants showed that the largest number of 696, came from Rivers; 668 from Bayelsa; 152 from Cross River; and 111 from Delta. Others were 46 from Edo; 35 from Akwa Ibom; and 31 from Imo.

“One of the major outcomes of the training and indeed the post amnesty programme is that the ex-militants have now denounced violence,” he said.