The Presidential Amnesty Programme currently managing about 30,000 Niger Delta
youths has so far bailed 17 ex- militants who were jailed for rape in the
Philippines, where they are undergoing training in various vocations under the
amnesty programme.
Special Adviser to the President on
Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku disclosed this in Lagos recently during the send
forth ceremony for the first batch of 525 qualified student cadets and ratings
under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) scheme, who would be
fully sponsored by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
While admonishing beneficiaries of
the NSDP scheme, Kuku noted that the amnesty programme has trained over a
hundred people in the Phillippines.
He said: “In that country, you
hardly know who is an adult or who is not. We have spent money on behalf of government
to go and bail not less than 17 of our boys who were locked up in the
Phillippines for rape, they don’t toil with their laws.”
He charged the new NSDP
beneficiaries who will be studying at University of Cebu in the
Phillipines, to face their studies and stay away from drugs, which the
Phillippines do not take lightly.
“You see one young girl and you
think she is 18 yrs, instead of facing your studies you go and invite her to
eat or drink. They call it rape and you are placed in detention immediately.
Face your studies, don’t bother about the opposite sex at all. Why do you have
to bother about people whose age you do not understand?”
Kuku urged the beneficiaries to
endeavour to complete the training, which he said, DG NIMASA has suffered to
put together, noting that for him to get approval through the ministry of
transport to the President was never easy. “So many other people who should
have this opportunity do not have it. Be level headed, clear headed and be
serious with what you are doing. Remember where you are coming from. 99 per
cent of great men in the world are from poverty stricken homes.”
Source: Daily Independent
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