Former Niger Delta agitators under the umbrella of The First Phase Ex-agitators who embraced the Presidential Amnesty have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to confirm the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (Rtd), as the substantive coordinator.
According to them, Dikio had performed very well in the management of PAP as an interim administrator and had the capacity to fully actualize the mandate of the program if given full powers of a substantive coordinator.
In an interview in Port Harcourt on Thursday, Secretary, First Phase, Pastor Nature Dumale, said Dikio’s commitment to transforming ex-agitators into independent employees and entrepreneurs through his novel Train, Employ and Mentor (TEM) model had started yielding expected results.
He recalled that recently 346 ex-agitators became the pioneers of TEM following their graduation from a notable skill acquisition facility in Ondo State.
He said 80 per cent of the graduates would be employed by the training firm in line with the provisions of TEM describing Dikio’s initiative as the best solution to the problems of unemployment in the Niger Delta.
Dumale said in the next six months, Dikio through TEM would have ensured the graduation of over 5000 ex-agitators with employable skills and entrepreneurial capabilities.
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He appealed to Niger Delta elders, leaders, youths and all stakeholders to throw their weight behind Dikio to enable him to actualize his vision for PAP and the Niger Delta.
He described the PAP boss as a rare asset discovered during Buhari’s administration saying the Niger Delta would remain eternally grateful to the President if he would make him a substantive coordinator.
Dumale added; “It is on record that 346 delegates from the Niger Delta region just graduated from Bradama International Skill Works Limited Agadagba Ondo. Out of this number of youths, 80 per cent of them are going to have job placements. They are going to employ them with the same training they have given them.
“We are calling on all Niger Delta leaders, opinion leaders, youth leaders, elders, politicians to rally round Dikio and give him more support for greater achievements and development in the region.
“The greatest development, you can give to any young man or to any person is to give him skill and not just to give him skill, to also meaningfully engage him so that he can become independent and also become an employer of labour in future.
“What Dikio has done is indeed laudable and encouraging. It is the first time in the history of the Presidential Amnesty Programme that we see this kind of success. This flagship programme called TEM, Train, Employ and Mentor has succeeded. This is the first graduation out of many graduations that will be unfolding in record time.
“Some of the students will be graduating in the next two months. Some of them will be graduating in January, some of them in February and so on.
“We are begging President Muhammadu Buhari to please confirm Col. Dikio retired as the substantive coordinator of the presidential Amnesty program and Senior Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs”.
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