By Omotayo Edubi
The Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) retired Col. Milland Dixon Dikio said the Amnesty Programme was collaborating with Bayelsa Starch factory on training ex militants.
He made this statement on Wednesday noting that the 60-metric load daily capacity Cassava Processing Factory in Bayelsa will educate and make use of the ex-agitators on cassava farming and starch processing.
That the plant designed to process starch from cassava, was built by the Bayelsa government at Ebedebiri, Sagbama Local Government Area, Bayelsa.
Dikio, who was represented by his Special Assistant on Projects, Godwin Ekpo, spoke when he inspected the multi-billion naira factory.
He said that about 1,000 ex-militants were expected to be trained in the cassava value chain and employed as outgrowers of cassava stems to feed the factory’s operations.
He said such an arrangement was in line with the PAP’s Train-Employ and Mentor (TEM) empowerment strategy.
He said the decision to send ex-agitators to the facility also aligned with the food security focus of PAP’s programme.
Dikio said delegates would learn cassava cultivation, production, processing, equipment maintenance and other businesses involved in the cassava value chain.
“This is a 60 metric ton cassava processing plant. It has a huge capacity and it is part of the facility that we will use for our “Train, Employ and Mentor empowerment strategy.
“Even if everybody in this community plants cassava, it has the capacity to absorb all of it. We can see the entire value chain.
“This is a facility that will help many of our delegates and give them employment. It is an incredible facility located in the region.
“It will help them and also achieve our vision of turning these ex-agitators into entrepreneurs,” he said.
The Project Management Consultant for the facility, Mr. Adebowale Ayoade, described it as the biggest industrial starch plant in Nigeria and the second largest in Sub-Saharan Africa.