Paul Boroh, special adviser to the president on Niger Delta, says the federal government has no plans to enrol fresh set of militants into the amnesty programme.
Boroh, who is also the coordinator of the presidential amnesty programme, made this known on Friday, while playing host to stakeholders of the programme in Abuja.
He explained that his mandate was to reintegrate 30,000 ex-agitators captured in the programme, saying he could not go beyond that limit.
“Amnesty programme worldwide has a limit because it is a master piece strategy to resolve militancy,” he said.
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“When that of Nigeria was established in 2009, it was supposed to exist for a particular time.
“I do not intend to bring in more agitators into the programme because that is not my mandate. My mandate is to reintegrate 30,000 ex-agitators that are already in the programme.
“I do not think that the federal government is going to have another amnesty programme; it is very expensive and at present, our economy is not in the right status.”
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He said the success of the programme has swelled the ranks of thousands of armed youths seeking to lay down their arms and live normal lives.
He said 22 ex-agitators under the programme had graduated from Jordan as aircraft maintenance engineers, adding that the programme had also recorded successes in automobile technology.
Boroh also said that 72 ex-agitators graduated in aquaculture and fishery at the Institute of Oceanography, University of Calabar.
However, he said though the programme had been a great success, it was better to work than to think of a scheme that would provide stipend every month.
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He advised youths to embrace agriculture as a primary or secondary means of earning income in order to generate jobs, create wealth and achieve food security.
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