By Emma Amaize
WARRI—PRESIDENTIAL Adviser on Niger-Delta, Mr. Timi Alaibe, has said  that government’s ultimate plan for the ex-militants undergoing training at Obubra in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State is to make them  new societal role models at the end of the programme.

In an exclusive interview with Vanguard, yesterday, from the training camp at Obubra, Alaibe said the Federal and  state governments, Ministry of Niger Delta, Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), private sector and the civil society were expected to provide job opportunities for the ex-militants after their training.

Vanguard learnt that to clear the doubts of the South-South governors, who, some time, last year, pulled out of the post- amnesty deal on the grounds that the Federal Government had no concrete plan for the programme, Alaibe explained the details of the remodelled programme to them in Abuja, few days ago, before leaving for Calabar.

Despite Alaibe’s assurance, there was a fresh concern, yesterday, among some ex-militant leaders, as to whether government would actually provide jobs for the ex-militants given the fact that there in clear-cut statement on it in the training programme.

However, the first phase of the programme, which is non-violence training for 2,000 ex-militants, will last for two weeks and each of the recognized ex-militant leaders are to send 10 per cent of the boys that accepted amnesty in their camps to Obubra as first batch for guidance.

A close source to ex-militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo told Vanguard, “Tompolo sent 200 ex-militants to Obubra for the first batch of the training and some of them have called him from there to tell him what is happening”.

The source, Mr. Paul Bebenimibo, added, “Tompolo is not against the training programme. His only concern is whether the government will provide jobs for the ex-militants after the training because some of them are already graduates and others trained in vocational trades such as welding and fabrication even before they accepted amnesty”.

“Also, a number of them had undergone non-violence training in South-Africa, the same thing they are undergoing again, so, he thought government should give the qualified ones jobs and not for them to be undergoing training and re-training”,  he added.

However, another ex-militant leader, Mr. Victor Ben, alias Boyloaf, who is one of the coordinators of the training programme in Obubra, said the boys would benefit from the training, adding, “As I speak to you now, I am expecting some of the people from my state, Bayelsa to arrive here, they are on the way”.

Leader of the erstwhile Deadly Underdogs, a disbanded militant group in Delta state, Mr. Ezekiel Akpasubio, told Vanguard, “We were told that the training will be in batches, the first is 2,000 and we are to send 10 per cent of our boys first.  I have 400 boys and so, I have sent 40 of them for the training”.

“I have spoken to Mr. Timi Alaibe this morning and I have no fears about job for the boys after training, as the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in his meeting with us (ex-militant leaders)  before his death said the Federal Government’s plan was to remove the boys from the creeks, train them and give them jobs”.

Ezekiel, however, said the government should act fast, as the boys were troubling their leaders, demanding that accommodation should be provided for them and their families in the cities.

His words, “The truth is that government asked the ex-militants to surrender their arms and come out of the creeks to the city for training.

”They have come out for many months now with their families to the city to stay, but, there is no accommodation for them and their families.

”So, they are angry and demanding that accommodation should be provided for them so that they can have where to lay their heads”.

Mr. Alaibe, nevertheless, maintained, the programme was being handled by the best experts in the world on non-violence training and after the non-violence transformation, the boys would go to Re-Integration classes before moving on the training centres.

He added, “The whole thing is a process, they are graduates among them, who want to further their studies, but, we finish with the transformation first and they enter the next phase”.