By Emma  Amaize

ABUJA- SPECIAL Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Office, Abuja, Hon Kingsley Kuku has said that the authorities of the Igbinedion University, Okada in Edo State, have agreed to offer admission to no fewer than 100 qualified ex-combatants for various degree programmes in the institution.

Hon Kuku disclosed this in Abuja while playing host to Poland Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Przemyslaw Niesiolowski, who visited the Amnesty Office, Abuja.

He told the Ambassador that 24 ex-agitators have been scheduled for vocational training in Poland and urged him to facilitate the issuance of visa to them so that they would proceed.

The special adviser urged foreign embassies in the country to partner with the Presidential Amnesty Office in the provision of information on reputable vocational training institutions in their countries, personnel, equipment and funding, since the amnesty programme was a global affair.

According to the special adviser, “Out of the first set of  20,192 ex-militants that were registered by the Federal Government, 5,000 have been placed in skills acquisition centres within Nigeria while a total of 2,618 were undergoing training in reputable institutions and centres overseas.

“Of this number, 476 are undergoing vocational training in South Africa and Ghana, 74 are in educational programmes at Linton University College in Malaysia. We also have 65 in the university in Moscow, Russia. On March 26, this year, 20 of them travelled to South Africa where they are being trained in one of the best Aviation Colleges in the world to become helicopter pilots and aeronautical engineers.

“They are doing very well. I am happy to announce to you that 19 out of the 20 have passed through the examinations. The only one who has not passed, I have told them I don’t want him back until he passes the examination. I was informed that 10 of them have had their first joint flight.  Also, 32 others are in the United States for six-month training in marine mechanics at the Wyotech Training Institute in Daytona, Florida underground drilling”, he added.

His Excellency, Przemyslaw Niesiolowski, who was initially skeptical about the grant of visa to ex-militants to undergo training in his country, said after explanation from Hon Kuku on the purpose of the training, commitment and sincerity of the Federal Government to the post-amnesty programme that his office would facilitate the issuance of visa to the ex-combatants.