PAP seeks robust collaboration with NCC to boost ex-agitators’ employment opportunities

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has called for a robust collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to create engagement opportunities for ex-agitators and other beneficiaries of the initiative.

PAP Administrator, Dr. Dennis Otuaro, made the call during a courtesy visit to the NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Aminu Maida, in Abuja on Thursday.

According to a statement released on Sunday by Otuaro’s Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Igoniko Oduma, the administrator said the NCC’s support would strengthen PAP’s post-training empowerment plan.

He noted that several beneficiaries of the programme had acquired the necessary qualifications and skills that could be useful to the commission, adding that their engagement would contribute to national development.

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Otuaro explained that the programme has successfully supported many ex-agitators through formal education and vocational training in key sectors, describing them as a pool of untapped human resources that could drive socio-economic growth in the Niger Delta and beyond.

His words : “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.

“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, we have the post-training, employment and empowerment component.

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

Responding, the NCC EVC,  Dr. Maida , assured of the commission’s readiness to provide support and equal opportunities, stressing that interventions must also deliver tangible value.

He reaffirmed the NCC’s commitment to its mandate of ensuring nationwide digital access, while also calling for stronger protection of telecom infrastructure against vandalism to safeguard digital connectivity across Nigeria.