NIGERIA: University reforms ex-militants

The Federal University of Port Harcourt, in Nigeria's oil and gas city, has opened its doors to former rebels to receive training. Young militants took up arms in the Niger Delta region to fight against poverty, under-development and environmental degradation. Many of these young men and women have signalled their intention to abandon guerrilla life in mosquito-infested creeks and take advantage of the university's vocational 'crash' courses.

Violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta has not abated since Nigeria's military junta executed writer and environmentalist Ken Saro Wiwa more than a decade ago. Saro Wiwa's peaceful agitation for more equal distribution of crude oil proceeds for the impoverished population of the region was perceived as a 'wrong strategy' by militant political agitators.

Many of the militant agitators were students and university graduates who were convinced that armed struggle was the only effective method to bring about their objectives. They mobilised unemployed youngsters and began a long and complex guerrilla 'war' against the Nigerian state.

The conflict between militants and the military claimed many lives, especially among the depleting ranks of the militants. Some accepted amnesty granted by the current Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amechi, a former student at the Federal University of Port Harcourt.

There was the need to rehabilitate rebels who agreed to lay down their weapons, Amechi declared: "We must provide vocational training for the repentant militants. They need to live a decent life."

The Governor met the authorities of his alma mater for technical assistance. The university understood and appreciated the relevance of his proposal, and agreed to help. Last year, the university's former vice-chancellor, Professor Lulu Briggs, was kidnapped by some militants who demanded huge sums of money to release him.

"If the university can assist in creating vocational programmes for these youths, we would have paved the way for making them better citizens. Some of them are potential university teachers, if given the chance," said a student affairs official.

Details of the vocational programme were provided by the chair of the River State Social and Rehabilitation Committee, Albert Horsefall, a retired intelligence officer for the state-owned Nigerian Security Organisation. Horsefall explained that about 300 former militant youths were currently undergoing vocational programmes in the university.

The training is conducted in phases with the first taking place in the tin mining city of Jos, in northern Nigeria. The youths were sent to an institute called Man o' War Bay. Lecturers from the University of Jos delivered lectures on citizenship and leadership for a month.

The choice of Jos for the first phase was deliberate: to temporarily remove the militants from the conflict zone as Jos is 3,000 kilometres from Niger Delta. "We wanted these young boys and girls very far away from the mangroves of Niger Delta so that they could rest and reflect, in a peaceful atmosphere, about their future," said Cecilia John, an official of the River State Social and Rehabilitation Committee.

The youths are now on various vocational courses at the university. "This is the second phase of their training. They are being trained in various aspects of engineering at the university. In more concrete terms, they are receiving crash programmes in plumbing, welding, electricity, tools maintenance etc," Horsefall said.

The oil and gas industry in the Niger Delta region is undergoing rapid expansion and there is an urgent need to produce local, indigenous middle cadre manpower to take advantage of job opportunities. It is hoped that some of the repentant militants in vocational training at the university will eventually seek employment in the oil and gas industry.

"Ours is a crash programme. There will be no university degrees or certificates. At the end of the day, they will be given testimonials to show that they participated in the programme," Horsefall explained.

The third phase will take place at a newly built demonstration farm at Okehi, near Port Harcourt. It will teach the youths about fisheries, piggery, poultry, snail cultivation and other agricultural fields. They will learn about small-scale farming methods. Some might opt for farming after the training.

Teachers in departments of agriculture at local universities have been recruited to teach farming skills to the former militants. After three months of the training, the youths will be given 'soft' loans to buy tools needed in their chosen fields, and the committee will also assist interested students in obtaining jobs in the gas and oil sector.

At a recent Summit of Niger Delta governors, Amechi made it known to his colleagues that he was willing to make available the model resettlement scheme for repentant militants that he has put in place. In each of the states in the Niger Delta, there are tertiary institutions that could emulate the example of the University of Port Harcourt.