By Emmanuel Nduka
The Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) Major General Barry Ndiomu, has expressed confidence that the livelihoods of ex-agitators in the Niger Delta Region will be improved in no distant time.
Ndiomu who gave this assurance on Thursday in his office in Abuja during a chat with newsmen, regretted that less than one percent of beneficiaries of the Programme are gainfully employed.
“Interestingly, when we looked at the data we have for even the ex-agitators and members of impacted communities that have benefited from either the scholarship scheme or the vocational training programmes, we realise that less than 1% are gainfully employed.”
In his resolve to gainfully engage ex-agitators, the PAP boss reiterated that his engagements with heads of government agencies would soon begin to yield positive results.
He added that as a follow-up to his meeting with Nigeria’s Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan, he is making contacts with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to push further for the employment of 350 ex-agitators who graduated with good grades across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as directed by the Presidency in 2017.
The General noted that upon assumption of office in September 2022, there was a directive to suspend contract awards due to paucity of funds. This, he said, affected the awards of scholarship, as the process had to be halted.
“We are not going to suspend the scholarships that has already been awarded because it is not the fault of these students to be awarded the scholarships. We had to work out a way of looking for the funds to offset these huge bills that will now we are confronted with,” he added.
He said part of the reasons why the number of ex-agitators under the Programme kept swelling, was because a number of them who earlier did not agree to come out of the creeks because of lack of trust for the Federal Government, later turned themselves in.
Ndiomu who has been pushing for the engagement of ex-agitators since he came onboard, disclosed that a number of initiatives are in the pipeline, including the setting up of a cooperative platform from which beneficiaries would be able to access micro credit to gainfully establish themselves.
Speaking on the Pipeline Surveillance Contract reeled out by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the PAP boss insisted that the PAP office should have been carried along in the process.
“I think was a mistake. I have expressed this already privately and emphasise privately to the to the GMD of the NNPC and I’m waiting for his response because I believe that the ex-agitators should be given the opportunity to be involved in the protection and surveillance of pipelines within the Niger Delta.”
He further commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Government for promptly funding the Amnesty Programme. “This is why we are able to pay stipends promptly,” he added.
