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Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh has told the media that the
Presidential Amnesty Office received a total of N25 billion
appropriation under the 2016 Budget including a N5 billion loan from the
government.
A statement from the coordinator of
the programme Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh, said the funds were received under
three line-items; Stipends which has seen 99.7 per cent expenditure,
Reintegration which has had 93.62 per cent implementation, and
Operational Activities which has had a 98.615 percent application.
payment of stipends to amnesty beneficiaries cannot be endless, adding
that his Office is sensitizing beneficiaries and their leaders to this
reality.
He said that “Stipends cannot be forever; the best thing is to teach people how to fish than to be given fish forever”
Boroh reiterated Government’s
commitment to the training and empowerment of all beneficiaries under
the Programme before exiting them.
He, however, revealed that the office would on Nov. 28, deploy 500
ex-agitators to undergo training in advanced agriculture at the Bio
Resource Centre in Odi, Bayelsa State. He also said…
“500 other ex-agitators will also be trained in the centre after this
first batch ends its training in the next five months,”
He said youth unemployment remains
the major challenge in the Niger Delta and that everything possible
must be done all to put the moribund industrial complexes in the
region back to life.
The coordinator said the industries
included the Aluminium Smelting Company in Akwa Ibom, the Aladja Steel
Company in Delta State and the various ports in the region.
“These would provide employment for tens of thousands of youths in the Niger Delta,” Boroh said.
The Coordinator also warned beneficiaries of the Programme to stay clear
of politicians who may want to use them to foment electoral violence
in the Dec. 10 re-run election in Rivers State.
He advised beneficiaries to only perform their civic duty like other
citizens, adding that any of them involved in violence would be
violating his amnesty oath and therefore be expelled from the Programme.
The statement also quoted the House of Representatives Committee on
Niger Delta as saying that peace must be secured in the Niger Delta by
all means as failure of peace in the Region would impact negatively on
the country.
Speaking on behalf of an 11-member team that conducted an oversight
function to the Presidential Amnesty Office in Abuja, Committee
Chairman, Hon. Essien Ayi, said “Peace in the Niger Delta means peace in
Nigeria; trouble in the Niger Delta means trouble in Nigeria.”
Ayi said that the National Assembly has passed the Executive’s
virement request for the Presidential Amnesty Programme, adding that it
showed the Assembly’s commitment to the success of the Programme.
He said that the House had fought for proper funding of the Programme,
adding that “Your success is also our success and your failure, our
failure. We need to flow with you to ensure success”.
source: NAN, daily trust
