Militants deported after holding co-ordinator hostage

Eight of the 27 ex-Niger Delta militants who were arrested for heckling a hotel attendant and holding their co-ordinator hostage in Takoradi have been deported to Nigeria.

The deportees, who were identified as the ringleaders behind the acts, were sent home after they had been screened by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police.

They were part of a group of 183 others currently in the country being trained in various trades, including welding and fabrication, building and masonry, catering and hospitality, carpentry and joinery, by the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI).

The Director of the NVTI, Mr Stephen Amponsah, who made this known to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said the rest of the Nigerians benefiting from the training programme were to be distributed to NVTI training centres, while the Takoradi training centre would no longer be used for the training programme.

Learning Resources Nigeria (LRN) Limited, contracted by the Federal government in December last year, entered into a training agreement with the NVTI to provide vocational training for 1,000 Nigerians.

The LRN is a Nigerian educational development and consulting company specialising in training, skills acquisition and capacity building.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the LRN and the NVTI to provide a comprehensive six-month training for the Nigerians.

Mr Amponsah said the 200 Nigerians who were the first batch to commence the training had been sent to six NVTI training centres in Winneba, Biriwa, Abetifi, Kumasi, Accra and Takoradi.

He said the training was part of programmes by the Federal government of Nigeria to reform the ex-militants who were on that country's amnesty programme, adding that "the NVTI's role is to train them".

He said the training had been well-planned with a code of discipline for the participants, in addition to an orientation programme before the commencement of the training.

Mr Amponsah said the Nigerians were yet to start the programme in Takoradi when the incident occurred.

He said the NVTI was well recognised in the sub-region to provide various kinds of training, saying that it had provided training for Liberians, Sierra Leoneans, Burkinabes and Togolese.

Last Thursday, the Daily Graphic reported the arrest of 27 ex-Niger Delta militants, for heckling a hotel attendant and holding their co-ordinator hostage.

The suspects and 183 others had arrived in the country to train in 13 trades at NVTI centres.

The police said at the time of the arrest, the suspects were in a meeting planning to rally support to attack their officers in Accra.