By Uzor Odigbo
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has assured the Presidential Amnesty Programme of support in ensuring proper rehabilitation and reintegration of the ex-agitators in the Niger Delta Region.
NIMASA Director General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, gave this assurance in Lagos when the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier General Paul Boroh (rtd.) visited him.
According to a press statement from NIMASA’s Head of Corporate Communications, Hajia Lami Tumaka, the DG identified the programme as worthy of partnership in the agency’s drive for improved maritime security.
Dakuku told Boroh that “you are contributing to the growth of our economy by ensuring that there is peace in the Niger Delta; when there is peace in the Niger Delta, we will increase oil production, we will contribute more revenue to the purse and we can do more development efforts.
“For us, working in maritime means that we will support the oil and gas industry, which is for now the mainstay of our economy; we have the capacity to diversify, but we need the resources from oil and gas to diversify into other areas, that is why we need peace in the Niger Delta, so we truly have common mandate in many areas. I truly welcome the idea of a strategic partnership and collaborative efforts in many directions”.
Dr. Peterside also said that the Agency will set up a special desk to look at the young men and women in the amnesty programme with a view to creating opportunities for them to apply the skills they acquired in the maritime industry.
Boroh called for a collaborative effort in the resettlement and reintegration of the ex-agitators in the Niger Delta Region, noting that it will foster the growth and development of the economy.
He stated that a number of them have gone through various courses relating to the maritime industry and appealed to the Agency to assist in engaging them, so that they can reintegrate into the society and lead lives.