Aug 18, 2009

By Ed Cropley

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Niger delta gunmen who hand in their weapons under a Nigerian government amnesty will undergo three months of reorientation and then education or skills training, a state governor said on Tuesday.

A 2004 amnesty failed to make a lasting impression on the militancy that has severely disrupted oil output since those who laid down their weapons quickly reverted to violence in the absence of long-term job prospects.

However, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi said the central and state authorities in Nigeria -- now challenged by Angola as Africa's leading oil producer -- would not make that mistake again.

"The amnesty comes with training. When you drop your arms, you don't just go home. You go into the camp, and at the camp arrangements are made for reorientation," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a delta investment conference in Johannesburg.

"Reorientation takes three months. You are then taken into the training centre depending on what field you choose. If you want to go into education, you are sent into secondary school or university, depending on your age or qualification."

Amaechi said he had no figures for the central government's retraining budget, or any information about the take-up of the amnesty in the delta, a network of creeks, marshland and swamps stretching over nine states.

Rivers State includes Port Harcourt, the hub of the delta's oil and gas industry.

The 60-day amnesty started on Aug. 6 and is due to end on Oct. 4. Amaechi did not say what would happen after its expiry, other than that he would "enforce the law and order".

Thirty-two members of Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main militant group, met President Umaru Yar'Adua on Aug. 7 after laying down their arms, but said unrest would resume if the grievances of the poverty-stricken region were not addressed.

The violence has prevented Nigeria from producing much above two-thirds of its potential capacity in the past few years, costing the world's eighth biggest oil exporter billions of dollars in lost revenues each year.

Militant attacks on pipelines and infrastructure of international oil companies has added to the volatility of world energy prices. (Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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