Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki has commended the Presidential Amnesty Programme(PAP) for empowering ex-agitators in the Niger Delta region through agriculture.
Obaseki made the commendation in Benin when the Coordinator of PAP, retired Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh and other senior officials of the programme paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Benin City.
He said that empowering the ex-agitators was a key to future development in the region, adding that the nation had always recognised specialisation in farming.
“The world now has the largest generation of young people in history. We in Edo place great hope in them in bringing the actual change our country deserves.
“They need to be guided through the process of making them employers of labour in the region and to the nation at large, “ he said
He also lauded the programme for giving in effects to its earlier promise of developing the agitators in the region.
Earlier in his speech, Boroh had told the governor that the team was in the state to empower ex-agitators in the Niger Delta region.
“It is our position that we should let the state government know that Edo was chosen for the event because of its peaceful atmosphere, ’’he said
The presidential aide, however, called for the commitment and collaboration of the state government to promote the change mantra of the present administration.
He appealed to Obaseki to consider implementing the commitment of his predecessor, Adams Oshiomole,aimed at in training 1,000 ex-agitators through agriculture in the state.
Boroh expressed optimism that the move would boost the reintegration of ex-agitators.
He disclosed that his office had deployed the first set of 100 ex-agitators to undergo training in advanced agriculture at the Bio-resource Centre, in Odi, Bayelsa.
The coordinator said that the reintegration of the ex-agitators was essentially designed to generate new ideas on how to engage them in a more diverse and productive roles in agriculture and also offer them secondary benefits.