PAP seeks NCC partnership to empower ex-agitators

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has sought a partnership with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to create engagement opportunities for some ex-agitators and beneficiaries of the programme.

According to a statement on Sunday by Igoniko Oduma, PAP special assistant on media, Dennis Otuaro, administrator of PAP, sought the partnership during a courtesy visit to Aminu Maida, executive vice-chairman (EVC) and chief executive officer (CEO) of NCC, in Abuja on Thursday.

Otuaro said the commission’s backing would strengthen the PAP’s post-training empowerment scheme.

The administrator said there are ex-agitators and beneficiaries of the programme with the requisite qualifications and skills that the commission can employ and enable them to contribute to national growth and development.

He said many of them had completed formal education and vocational training in relevant fields as part of the PAP’s human capacity development efforts.

Otuaro described them as potential human resources that can be harnessed for the socio-economic advancement of the Niger Delta and the country at large.

“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,” he said.

“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 persons have been trained in various professional fields.

“So far, we have over 18000 persons that have been trained. These are potential human resources that should be harnessed for national development.

By the design of the programme, Otuaro said there is a post-training, employment, and empowerment component.

“So we have an army of human resources that will contribute to national growth when engaged,” he said.

“We also have persons with doctors 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 said the commission was committed 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.

The EVC, however, called for infrastructure security against vandalism to protect digital assets and sustain digital connectivity across the country.