Mr Kingsley Kuku, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, says about 12,000 out of 26,358 ex-militants granted amnesty have been enrolled in universities across the world.
Kuku, who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen, said that carrying of arms by youths would no longer be tolerated.
The special adviser said that the Federal Government had packaged a lot of programmes for the ex-militants as a way of channelling their energy into positive ventures.
“The region could now boast of its indigenes undergoing several educational programmes in universities spread across the world with the placing of more than 12,000 out of the 26, 358 youths who renounced violence in educational institutions in 23 countries,’’ he said.
According to him, the amnesty programme has brought peace and stability to the country’s economy thereby increasing the daily crude oil export.
“Today, you know that oil contributes over 80 per cent of our revenue; that tells you that Niger Delta is critical because oil is gotten from that place.
“The security of that place is very important to this country; once there is peace in Niger Delta, it means that the extraction of oil will not be disrupted.
Kuku said that the amnesty programme was succeeding because the former militants were cooperating with the government to see that peace returned finally to the region.
The amnesty programme was initiated by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua as part of efforts to restore peace to the region. (NAN)