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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Jonathan Approves Fresh Allowance For Ex-militants

President Goodluck Jonathan has approved a fresh fund called Re-insertion Safety Allowance for 20,192 ex-Niger Delta militants.

The approval followed a series of agitations by the ex-combatants who had clamoured for some allowances from the government.

The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, issued the information on Thursday during a pre-departure briefing at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, for 42 ex-militants departing for South Africa on a six-month vocational training.

Kuku, who did not disclose the amount, however, said the President had passed the matter to the National Assembly.

He said, “The President has approved a Re-insertion Safety Allowance for 20,192 ex-militants. This amount is for the first set of 20,192 ex-militants; the second set, consisting of 6,166 ex-militants, will be included in the supplementary budget.

“The allowance is in response to the clamour by our brothers, the ex-combatants, who had agitated for a housing allowance. The government refused to heed their agitations; instead, what the government did was to approve a Re-insertion Safety Allowance.”

Kuku explained that the allowance was to enable them to provide for their families during the training.

The 42 ex-fighters will join the first batch of 38 who left for South Africa in December last year. The special adviser said 212 ex-militants travelled to Ghana last month for training while several other militants would attend various programmes in Europe and other countries later in the year.

According to him, the ex-combatants will receive instruction in various marine studies, undersea welding and other professions related to the oil and gas industry.

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