By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt,The Nation
Copyright thenationonlineng
The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has sought the partnership of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for employment opportunities for some of the 18,000 trained ex-agitators and beneficiaries of the programme.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Executive Vice-Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NCC in Abuja, Dr Aminu Maida, the PAP Administrator, Dr Dennis Otuaro, said that the commission’s support would help the scheme’s post-training empowerment scheme.
Otuaro said there were ex-agitators and beneficiaries of the programme with the requisite qualifications and skills that the commission could employ to enable them to contribute to national growth and development.
He said many of them had completed their formal educational and vocational training in relevant fields as part of the PAP’s effort at human capacity development.
Otuaro, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Igoniko Oduma, described them as potential human resources that could be harnessed for the socio-economic advancement of the Niger Delta and the country.
He said, “We are on a mission to seek support and collaboration with government agencies like the NCC to see how some of them can be engaged so that they can contribute their quota to national development.
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“The whole scope of the programme centres on national and human security, where the beneficiaries are trained in formal education and vocational skills, including information technology. Many people have been trained in various professional fields.
“So far, we have over 18000 persons who have been trained. These are potential human resources that should be harnessed for national development. By the design of the programme, we have the post-training, employment, and empowerment component.
“So we have an army of human resources that will contribute to national growth when engaged. We also have persons with doctorates of philosophy (PhDs) that can be easily engaged, and that is the essence of the human capacity development that we carry out.”
In his remarks, the NCC boss expressed the commission’s commitment to providing support and equal opportunities to people without bias, stressing that there should also be evidence of value from interventions.
Maida said the commission was poised to carry out its mandate as a regulatory agency while ensuring access to digital connectivity by all citizens.
He, however, called for infrastructure security against vandalism to protect digital assets and sustain digital connectivity across the country.
