Kuku Urges PAP to Revive Vocational Centres in Niger Delta 

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja 

Former Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Kingsley Kuku, has urged the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd), to revive and complete all vocational training centres in the Niger Delta region.

Kuku, during a courtesy visit to the Interim Administrator in Abuja on Wednesday,

made particular reference to the Vocational Training Centre in Kaiama, Kolokuma Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, that was vandalized by hoodlums in 2019.

The former special adviser, who also served as Chairman of the PAP under the Jonathan administration, regretted that the facility will undoubtedly cost billions of naira to revive.

He said the facility when revived, can serve as advanced training centres for universities in the region, even beyond being a facility for training ex-agitators.

Kuku commended late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, ex-Presidents Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, as well as incumbent President Bola Tinubu for the creation and sustenance of the programme respectively.

He also commended the Aviation Resuscitation Programme for pilots/aircraft maintenance engineers under which some of the beneficiaries are currently undergoing their Type-rating Certification Programme in South Africa.

“In today’s aviation industry, any pilot without Type-rating is nothing. You are touching lives. After what you are doing for them now, they will get jobs easily,” Kuku said.

He expressed delight that Ndiomu has brought back hope to the Niger Delta, and assured of his unalloyed support towards sustaining the gains of the Amnesty Programme.

Earlier in his remarks, General Ndiomu told Kuku that his administration was resolutely building on many of his legacies, adding that the enormous number of graduates under the Amnesty Scheme today can be traced to his (Kuku’s) doggedness to better the lives of ex-agitators.

The interim administrator regretted that after such hard work and efforts put in by Kuku, it is “disappointing” and “embarrassing” that his administration came on board and inherited huge debts. 

“For me, it was a bit irresponsible and reckless. But I came in here to surmount these challenges,” he said.

Ndiomu decried the vandalism of the Kaiama Vocational Training Centre in Bayelsa. He disclosed that when completed, the Vocational Training Centre in Agadagba-Obon in Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State will be named after Kuku.

The Amnesty Office also disclosed that 106 out of over 800 beneficiaries had been trained and certified in various digital skills, in its partnership with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). This is as over 600 are currently undergoing various digital courses.