South African firm offers jobs to five ex-Niger Delta militants

THE Federal Government amnesty programme forex-Niger Delta militants is yielding dividends as five trained code welders have beenoffered job in South Africa, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.NAN correspondent in South Africareports that Watchman James, Emmanuel Keme, Ezekiel Barile, Oghenekaro Ejukonemi and Stephen Ayebo were offered immediate employment as code welders by a South Africa based company, Allweld Marine and Engineering Company.Mrs. Boveti Simona, head of Allweld Marine and Engineering Company technical crew which visitedNigeria for the assessment and recruitment of the welders, told NAN in Johannesburg on Monday that the five weldersselected showedhigh level of skills and discipline in code welding.'I must tell you we are highly impressed atthe level of skills displayed by those we assessed and more importantly they were highly disciplined.'Nigerian code welders were recommend to us by the code welding academy in South Africa and out of twenty professional welderswe re-assessed after graduation, five of them were selected for immediate employment.Boveti praised the initiative of the Nigerian government underthe amnesty programme, because itexposed those recruitedtoworld-class skills acquisition opportunities which will make them marketable globally considering the shortage of skilled manpower in the sector.She said that weldingcode standard skills were in high demand and that the profession was a serious endeavour which requiredhard working people adding that thoseselectedhad shown that 'they haveall it takes to be among the best in the world.'Managing Director of Ashland Consultant Services, Uche Odozor, who facilitated the visitof the company to Nigeria said that there was ahuge demand for code welders not only in South Africa, but globally.'Code welding,a highly specialised welding job,with huge employment market globally, is in high demand inthe construction and laying of petroleum pipe lines in the oil and gas industry.'It isa good thing that Nigerian government is investing on the ex-millitants in area of training and acquisitionof skills.'The visitof a highly reputable company fromSouth Africa to Nigeria to recruit trained welders is part of the success story of the amnesty programmes of the government.'Most of themen and women trainedin various skills under the amnesty programmes havesecuredjobslocally and internationally,' Odozor said.He said that twenty-eight people had beentrained in South Africa in code welding skills.'With the recruitment of the five, I am sure that others that havenot yet securejobs will soon beemployed by other companies,' Odozor said.
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