Presidency Treats Graduate Ex-Militants to a Dinner

*As Osinbajo begs agitators to Embrace peace

By Tobi Soniyi

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has again appealed to militants in the Niger Delta to shun violence and embrace peace even as he stated that everybody loses when pipelines are blown up.

Speaking on Wednesday night  at a presidential dinner organized in  honour of over 200 graduates and beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programmes at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, he assured the graduates of a bright future.

The graduates at the dinner were former militants from the Niger Delta who had successful completed their educational and vocational pursuits.

They were trained as pilots, automobile and electric transformer technicians, among other skills, both in Nigeria and abroad.

Osinbajo advised them to shun all violent acts including blowing up of oil pipelines.

According to him, destroying state infrastructure will have a lasting negative effect on them, their region, the country and even the generations yet unborn.

He noted that government had by the programme given them an opportunity to harness their God-given potentials and urged  them to pass the skills they have acquired to others too.

He said: “The fact that you did so well was a tremendous opportunity for other people.

“We all have the responsibility to ensure that the future of the country is one that is secure. That cannot happen under the atmosphere of conflict.

“There is no point blowing up pipelines. If they are blown, who are the losers at the end of the day, all of us. Even the upcoming ones.

“This is more of a programmes for giving the young people an opportunity to succeed. That’s the reason why we are doing the various vocational trainings all over the country.

“The future is here and your time has come. Just looking at you guys, I just know that the future is bright. I see you becoming the great people that God has made.

“Someone somewhere has to give a helping hand, an opportunity. This is one way we must remind ourselves that as human beings, we must provide opportunity for one another. Your story is a story of success.”