Amnesty Training For Ex Niger Delta Militants Postponed

Amnesty Training For Ex Niger Delta Militants Postponed

The December 2010 deadline for conclusion of the training for over 20,000 ex-militants in Nigeria 's Niger Delta region has been shifted to June, 2011.

According to the Chairman of the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria , Mr. Allen Onyema, the extension is to accommodate more than 6,000 additional youths, who recently embraced the amnesty programme.

Onyema said his organisation would work towards ensuring that the June, 2011 deadline for the new trainees was realised.

He explained that the December 2010 deadline for the government's post amnesty programme was fixed in view of the 2011 general election earlier scheduled to take place in January 2011.

Onyema said the shifting of the election to April, would afford the organization the leverage to accommodate new trainees and the opportunity to improve on the amnesty programme.

He said that beyond the deadline, the skills acquisition component of the post amnesty programme would continue, explaining that some of aspects of it might take a year or two to conclude.

NAN Qasim/Yinka