Presidential aide seeks partnership with NIMASA to end restiveness in Niger Delta

SPECIAL Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier General Paul Boroh (rtd), has called for collaborative effort to find lasting solution to restiveness in the Niger Delta region.

This was as he disclosed that training, engagement and reintegration of ‎about 30,000 former agitators was one major strategies adopted by the Amnesty Office to secure peace and stability in the region.

Boroh made the disclosure when he recently lead a delegation of his office on courtesy call on the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, in his office in Lagos, adding that top on the agenda was a proposed partnership between the two agencies.

He particularly called for collaborative efforts in the resettlement and reintegration of the ex-agitators in the Niger Delta region, noting that such would foster the growth and development of the economy.

He also disclosed that the Amnesty Office had trained ‎1325 ex-agitators in various maritime courses and pleaded that NIMASA, as a brother agency, should take up the responsibility of engaging the skilled youths as a means of resolving unrest in the Niger Delta.

“Both our agencies have a similar responsibility of ensuring stability in the Niger Delta, especially in the waterways, where most of these boys reside. We have invested a lot in training these boys and ask that NIMASA come to our aid by engaging the few, skilled in maritime-related fields,” Boroh said.

Responding, the NIMASA DG, commended General Boroh for his apolitical approach to handling the activities of the Amnesty Office and acknowledged the need for synergy and commitment to a well organised partnership between the two agencies.

Peterside also said the agency would set up a special desk to look at the young men and women in the amnesty programme, with a view to creating opportunities for them to put into use the skills they acquired in the maritime industry.