The National Committee of Yoruba Youths has urged the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, not to discontinue amnesty programme for ex-militants in the Niger Delta region.

The President of the group, Oladimeji Odeyemi mentioned that it will really be unfortunate to stop the programme which has transformed/trained over 2,000 youths in the region.

“We call on the incoming administration to sustain the tempo of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and continue with its funding.

“The outgoing Presidential Amnesty Programme Chairman and Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku, and his team have turned the amnesty programme into a model to evaluate performance and service delivery.

“The amnesty programme in just four years has succeeded in training both locally and offshore, about 20,000 youths out of the 30,000 beneficiaries enlisted in the scheme.”

He continued, “As at today, almost 20,000 of these beneficiaries are in various institutions abroad while significant numbers are schooling in some of our best private universities in the country.

“When these youths are fortified with skills, the Niger Delta and, indeed, Nigeria will not depend on crude oil alone as its source of income.”