Follow Us on Google
The Niger Delta Grand Initiative (NDGI) has hailed the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major-General Barry Ndiomu, for reviving the PAP’s Aviation Training Programme for Cadet Pilots and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers, over eight years after it was first conceived.
The social pressure group maintained that Ndiomu’s administrative focus and revival of the stalled training programme is a testament of his dedication to the empowerment of Niger Delta ex-agitators in line with the vision and mission of the PAP as well as the recognition to build the capacity of the region and the people.
In a press statement following the flagging-off ceremony of the Aviation Resuscitation Programme for Cadet Pilots and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers for ex-agitators of the Niger Delta in Lagos, the group said Ndiomu deserved to be celebrated as an icon for “capacity development” for accomplishing what his predecessors could not achieve even with the injection of greater funds into the PAP while they held sway.
“We use this forum to align ourselves with the words of Ndiomu to those uninformed individuals who have been misinterpreting the Programme’s vision and mission. We urge those pessimists to pay attention to both the programme’s short and long-term benefits especially now because the aviation sector is a significant touch-point for global commerce,” the group stated
The group argued that professional training such as the aviation scheme would enhance regional skills of ex-agitators and youths which would in turn contribute to growth, bring peace to the Niger Delta as well as change the socio- economic narrative of the region.
“We therefore urge Niger Deltans to encourage and support Ndiomu for the initiatives being pursued in the PAP due to its huge benefits to the region and for his outstanding contributions over the course of his one year in office,” the statement emphasised.
