Nigeria's government has employed 12,000 young people to protect oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta.
Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said the youth would patrol some 5,000km (3,000 miles) of pipeline to stop it from being vandalised.
She said it was part of the government amnesty programme offered to the region's militias who were fighting for a greater share of oil revenues.
Few residents of the Niger Delta, home to Nigeria's oil industry, have benefited from the area's oil wealth.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producers, but attacks by militants on oil installations led to a sharp fall in output during the last decade.
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