Several months after they were withdrawn from their training school in Cyprus, 67 amnesty trainees are to undergo a fresh selection test to determine their eligibility for placement in new institutions abroad.

The affected Niger Delta ex-militants, who signed up for the Amnesty Programme in 2009, were sent to study various skills at Inter College, Larnaca, Cyprus, in 2011 but were withdrawn last December and asked to return home when Nigeria discovered that the school was not accredited to offer the courses it was offering to the trainees.

Vanguard’s finding reveals that the Kingsley Kuku-led Presidential Amnesty Programme was misled by one of its vendors to select the Cyprus school.

The trainees, it was gathered, were withdrawn when it became clear to the Amnesty Programme that the certificates to be issued to the students at the end of their programmes would not be honoured by prospective employers.

The affected students have, however, become agitated since they returned to Nigeria and have asked the Amnesty Office to take steps to find appropriate training institutions for them.

In a text message to Vanguard, weekend, the students complained that they had been left almost stranded without any communication with the Amnesty Office since their abrupt return to the country.

However, the Amnesty Office said, yesterday, that it had not abandoned the affected trainees and was working hard to source another school for them.

Amnesty Head of Media and Communication, Mr. Daniel Alabra, told Vanguard that the affected students would, however, be subjected to a fresh round of selection test on March 25 to determine their suitability for new schools.

Alabra said: “It is true that the students were brought back when we discovered that the school was not accredited, principally to save them from avoidable problems in the future.

“We cannot allow them to waste their precious time and return with worthless certificates and be stranded in Nigeria. That is why we are doing our best to sort their problems out once and for all.”

They lamented that it was wrong for the Amnesty Office to keep them in the dark, having lost some years before they were taken to Cyprus for the aborted training programmes.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/67-ex-militants-withdrawn-from-cyprus-school


They claimed they were misled while billions of naira probably disappeared into thin air yet no investigation was conducted,nobody was arrested nor prosecuted and they deemed it fit to shield this from the public.Nigeria and corruption.

Why is it dat everything Nigeria does is related to corrupt practices? We need to ask ourself that. SMH!!

SMH!

Too Bad! Why did they not do their own investigation (after the vendor have recommended the school) before accepting to send these guys there. Information is very important and can cost a lot if neglected. And also why let the take another eligibility test? The bona-fide ones that were withdrawn from the Cyprus school should have automatic chance since it was not their fault that the school was not accredited.

Yeeeh mogbe. :-XYeeeh mogbe.

Nigerians o mase o if nigerian greet u good morning no answer am o e go be scam !

I hope in the next couple of years, we won't be hearing the boko haram militants were withdrawn from so and so school in iraq?

Nigeria government and corruption are inseparable, just like the snail and it's shell.

dey shld come back home and start wat dey knw best...which is k............i no fit shout

Money don miss road Again!!!!!!! :

hahahahaahahhahaah ex-militants please stop waiting O! the SCAM worked and FG is done with you guys, at least their fear was you guys might not agree to board the plane back home. Are u guys back? then forget it...your case is closed. stop wasting your time hoping, just go find something else and do.

These ex militants dey enjoy no be small...Cyprus

Sometimes I wish I was a militant...I for don go far by now. These so called militants get a mouth-watering monthly pay that is way ahead of the salry of an average graduate, while they are also being flown overseas anyhow for being a menace to the society. Little wonder why youths prefer crime to legitimate living

So all the money spent from oct 2011 to Dec 2012 on 67 Black,mean-looking,ex gun-pumping and non English speaking mafians is now BANZA? Na wa!

Na trouble una dey find o.

Who ever approved that monies be paid without first verifying the status of that school should be made to refund the total cost.

I doubt if d militants will eva return to cyprus again. Lol.na style govt take wash dia hand comot for d mata. Cyprus my left ass. Abeg dey shuld go n luk for somthin to do wit d remaining part of dia lives

This government is bad.

they should enrol in nigeria schools why cyprus

is our post here on Nairaland relevant? If yes, am pronouncing it that both the vendors and the mumu whom approve the payment should be hold to refund bak the total money expendit.

Ada Nri1: 1 short black Ghana boy. Mind your business. If Ghana was that good Rawlings wouldn't have killed all your leaders.

lol nne I'm as nigerian as u o and like every other normal nigerian I'm greatly offended by all d corruption

An ex-militant told me they havent been paid salaries since Dec 2012 till date.

Can anyone confirm it? He owes me a big amount of money and he's waiting to be paid.

Is it true or an excuse?

SmH for the people in charge

newken: An ex-militant told me they havent been paid salaries since Dec 2012 till date.

Can anyone confirm it? He owes me a big amount of money and he's waiting to be paid.

Is it true or an excuse?

And if I may ask,what job did he do dat he's expectin salary? Which of d parastatals did he work for? Is he refering to his salry as a militant or retired militant. Cos I dnt see any reason y govt shuld even ansa dem.
Dey r making dis whole militancy stuff mouthwatery for jobless and lazy youths dt will just sit at home n think dat militancy is d way forward.

All AFCON cup wey una dey jublilate don evaporate? ummmmmmmmmmm! back to reality. Nigeria=CORRUPTION.

buchibabe:

And if I may ask,what job did he do dat he's expectin salary? Which of d parastatals did he work for? Is he refering to his salry as a militant or retired militant. Cos I dnt see any reason y govt shuld even ansa dem.
Dey r making dis whole militancy stuff mouthwatery for jobless and lazy youths dt will just sit at home n think dat militancy is d way forward.

Many of dem are not evn former militants,just saw d fg throwing mony around& got their names smuggled in.Don't b surprised some don't evn know d route to their villages or where d creeks of their communities are situated

This program always makes my blood boil...rewarding ex criminals with overseas scholarship, some of who misuse it and go over there to utterly disgrace the country, meanwhile there are students in nigeria today seeking the opportunity to study abroad and if given that boost will excell. What a waste of money!!

GEJ investing in his brothers.