Army Destroys Weapons Surrendered By Ex-Militants

The General Officer Commanding 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major-General Sarki Yarki Bello along with the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman Amnesty Implementation Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, today witnessed the destruction of the weapons recovered from Niger Delta militants in 2009.

The destruction took place in a bush located at Lokpanta in Umunneochi local government area of Abia state.

During the exercise combustible arms were burnt while non combustible ones were detonated.

Speaking to newsmen after the exercise, Hon. Kuku described the successful destruction of the weapons as “the end of militancy in the Niger Delta.”

According to him, 16,336 out of the 20,192 militants in the first phase have undertaken non violence transformational trainings at the Amnesty Demobilization camp in Obubra Cross River state.

Also, 2618 ex-militants are currently in reputable institutions abroad.

To this end, the peace, safety and security now existing in the zone have increased oil production from abysmal 700,000 barrels at the height of insurrections in the zone in 2008 to 2.3 million barrels currently.
By Jude Orji/Enugu