President MUHAMMADU BUHARI has approved a two- year extension of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, making it to terminate in 2017.

President MUHAMMADU BUHARI has approved a two- year extension of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, making it to terminate in 2017.
The shift in date was announced in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAUL BOROH.BOROH noted that the Amnesty Office was removing a total of three thousand two hundred beneficiaries from the programme.
He said the affected beneficiaries have been trained as entrepreneurs and equipped to start businesses, adding that another batch of  one thousand and forty two beneficiaries are currently receiving starter packs to enable them start off on their own.The initial five years of the programme lapsed last December.Government explained that the extension was to implement an exit strategy and also forestall a resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta.
The Amnesty programme had secured admission and a given scholarship to five thousand two hundred and thirty four beneficiaries in local and one hundred and thirty offshore institutions.A breakdown of the figure showed that three thousand and eighty two of the admissions are in local institutions, while two thousand, one hundred and fifty are abroad.