{"id":16463,"date":"2017-10-20T19:50:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T19:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=16463"},"modified":"2017-10-20T19:50:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T19:50:08","slug":"the-green-shirts-of-the-niger-delta-by-paul-t-boroh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=16463","title":{"rendered":"THE GREEN SHIRTS OF THE NIGER DELTA By Paul .T. Boroh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">When T.Y. Bello (Toyin Sofekun-Bello) sang: \u201cThe land is green, is green, oh oh oh; the land is green, is green, can\u2019t you see\u201d she might have had the Niger Delta in mind. No part of our country \u00a0is more lush fully green than the Niger Delta \u00a0with its all-year round rainfall.\u00a0 Even in times of tragic oil pollution, some plants stubbornly sprout with their green coated in oil, as if to say, \u2018this land is ours\u2019<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The irony however is that the rich natural vegetation of the Region has not translated into food self-sufficiency or security. Like most parts of the country, the Niger Delta has become like Abdul, the man in the fairy tale who wants to get rich without working. Yes, oil is a rich resource, but as we know, it is a wasting one; not only will it not last, but also, its importance is diminishing daily with humanity finding alternative ways of powering energy and automobiles. In fact, future cars will be run on recycled water. This is why the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari harps not just on the need for alternative sources of income for the country, but with its Green Initiative, backed by various programmes like the CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme and those of the Bank of Industry, point at agriculture as what would save the country.v<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">When in July, 2015, I was appointed the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme with the sustainable reintegration of 30,000 ex-Militants as a main target, I \u00a0worked out in the back of my mind, the fastest and best way to achieve this. My conclusion is \u00a0 to let the Amnesty Beneficiaries blend with the greenery of the Region by attracting them to return to culture the land and fish ponds.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">This I also found as the answer to the Federal Government\u2019s primary objectives in the Niger Delta which are to ensure peace and sustainable development. So apart from continuing the existing projects such as developing the human capital resource of the Region through tertiary education, professional and vocation training and empowerment, my team and I took the sure turn to agriculture. We entered into partnership with various organisations like the Bio Technology Resource Centre, university Agriculture faculties and established farms to train the ex-Agitators.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">These seedlings we are planting are beginning to sprout. You can imagine my joy when on Friday October 13, 2017, before the chiefs, elders and people of George Town, Okrika, Rivers State, twenty young men in green overall stood before us, the mass media and the world, as I handed over to them a modern, zero-waste, integrated cluster farm. These were part of the 105 youths the Presidential Amnesty programme had trained under the Songhai Rivers Initiative Farm. While their colleagues are being empowered with single stand- alone farms and ponds, this was our first experiment to group ex-Agitators into cluster farms, register them as cooperatives and watch them become not just self-employed, but also employing other unemployed youth.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=14746&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">The model farm, fully funded by the \u00a0Presidential Amnesty Programme which we handed over to the Beneficiaries, has 30 Ponds, one \u00a0Run-off Earthen Pond, 5000 Bird Poultry including Broiler and \u00a0Layers, Free Range, Cropping and Processing Sections,1 Administration and Sales Office, 2 Feed Stores, 2 Implement Stores and one Control Room.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0I told the Beneficiaries that they have a once in a life time opportunity not just to make a decent living for themselves and their families but also to employ a number of the unemployed. I also \u00a0informed them that \u00a0the Amnesty Office was further empowering them by handing over to them as a start-off package, 1000 fingerlings to 2000 post fingerlings, \u00a0100 Point of Lay Birds and an additional 200 broilers, 10 Piglets \u00a0and a Crop Section with \u00a0Cucumber, Pepper, Pumpkin and Okra.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Perhaps the most critical aspect of this farm is that it is designed to be one \u00a0with an all-year round production by running a staggered stocking and harvesting plan. With this, commercial sales have been programmed \u00a0with the sale of eggs by \u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_389787400\"><span class=\"aQJ\">November 1, 2017<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and, smoked fish, broilers \u00a0and vegetables in December, 2017. We opted that smoked fish, rather than fresh fish be sold, first to add value and secondly to make more profit.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I was also very happy with George Town \u00a0which provided the land for the farm. I was elated when the traditional leader of the town, Chief Akuro Richard George said with this project, we had brought \u00a0Federal presence to them \u00a0and that the \u00a0project has established a bond between the George Town \u00a0people and the Federal Government. His request that the Presidential Amnesty Programme establishes \u00a0 a skills acquisition centre in George Town to cater for lots of unemployed youths, is one that sits well with the Presidential Amnesty Office.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">My happiness knew no bounds when the \u00a0Chairman of the ex-Agitators \u00a0Cooperative, Mr. Emmanuel.T. Promise, \u00a0thanked the Federal Government for giving them the opportunity \u00a0of their lives to \u00a0run a \u00a0viable and sustainable business of their own.\u00a0 These are men who had picked up arms to fight the country, but who are now a role model for their peers and are resolved to run their lives in peace and security.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The occasion further convinced me that this is the way to go; that this cluster farm which we registered with the \u00a0Rivers State Government as \u201cOkrika Agro Farmers 105 Cooperative and Investment and Credit Society Limited\u201d \u00a0must be \u00a0replicated in other parts of the Niger Delta. Already, we have 1,000 Beneficiaries \u00a0 who have either been trained, being trained or are on the waiting list to be trained in agriculture.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">As we continue with this, our attention is also directed at rice farming for which we have already trained 305 Beneficiaries with two of them establishing their rice farms in Ughelli. My vision is to produce tens of thousands of youths in the Niger Delta cladded in their green overall and shirts, turning the Region into a Green Belt and blending with the green vegetation.\u00a0 This is the beginning of what I call the \u201cGreen Shirt Movement\u201d The Land is green and is becoming greener, can\u2019t you see?<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">*Brigadier General Paul Tarela Boroh (Rtd) \u00a0is the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-16006\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2-80x80.jpg 80w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2-40x40.jpg 40w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2-64x64.jpg 64w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2-75x75.jpg 75w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When T.Y. Bello (Toyin Sofekun-Bello) sang: \u201cThe land is green, is green, oh oh oh; the land is green, is green, can\u2019t you see\u201d she might have had the Niger Delta in mind. No part of our country \u00a0is more lush fully green than the Niger Delta \u00a0with its all-year round rainfall.\u00a0 Even in times [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[4243,1345],"class_list":["post-16463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-paul-t-boroh","tag-presidential-amnesty-programme"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/NIGER-DELTA-2.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-4hx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16464,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463\/revisions\/16464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}