eWASH

Royal Dutch Shell  is working with Nigeria's Federal government to re train Niger delta militants who were recently granted amnesty, to ensure the militants do not return to violence.

"In co-operation with the government and the states, we are taking on ex-militants to train them in business development, to teach them what real business is all about," Shell's Africa communications director Olav Ljosne said

"We of course look at their education and the background of the guys so that we can see that they can make use of it and develop from it," he said.

"Shell is contributing its own part," said Gideon Ekeuwei, secretary to the state government of Bayelsa, one of the three main oil-producing states in the Niger Delta.

Officials said more than a dozen ex-militants were in the initial batch being taken for training but others would follow.
President Yar'Adua last week approved 200 billion naira ($1.34 billion) in federal funding to build roads, hospitals and schools in the region.

Niger state Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu wants  the constitutional review exercise is centred around the people, stressing that the workability of the document depends solely on the people.

Delivering an  address entitled: “Constitutional review as a mechanism for peace and stability”, in Minna yesterday, Aliyuo said the framers of the proposed amendment should live above primordial and tribal sentiments, calling for the enforcement of chapter two of the 1999 Constitution, which deals with the directive principle in governance. (more…)