By KENNETH EHIGIATOR
As 50 Niger Delta ex-militants left the shores of the country for training in deep sea diving, underwater welding and boat building in Sri Lanka yesterday, the federal government has so far sent 1,019 of the youths overseas for academic and skill acquisition training since its post-amnesty programme began over a year ago.

At present, ex-Niger Delta militants are undergoing training in the U.S., South Africa, Malaysia, Moscow, Poland, India, Ghana, and the Philippines, amongst others.

Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, who disclosed this in Lagos at the pre-departure orientation of the 50 bound for Sri Lanka, said additional 3,112 were also undergoing skill acquisition training at different centres across the country.

According to him, the local and overseas’ training will continue until all the over 26,000 ex-militants who keyed into government’s amnesty programme were trained.

Kuku said government’s decision to embark on such training was to prepare youths of the Niger Delta for challenges in developing the region, stressing that the next phase of the struggle in the region was no longer through bearing of arms but knowledge.

Those who travelled out last night are bound for the Topher Zhang Vocational Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where they would be trained for the next six months, after which they would be given international certification that would qualify them to operate anywhere in the world.

Kuku, who was represented by Dr. Ferdinand Ikwang, cautioned the delegates to use their time well and study hard to achieve their goal and that of the federal government for the Niger Delta.

He also warned them against acts that might impugn the image of the country, adding that government would not hesitate to pull out of the amnesty programme as well as prosecute any of them who misbehaved in their countries of training.

He said the federal government was already making arrangements to ensure that they were absorbed as soon as they were through with their training, so the amnesty programme could be sustained.

According to Kuku, government is also favourably disposed to empowering those with skills in entrepreneur to set up their own businesses in order to employ other unemployed youths in the Niger Delta.

He, however, charged the beneficiaries to ensure they passed their certification examinations in their various countries of training to make job placement for them easier for government.