N’Delta Erupted In Anger Over Ijaw Leader In Diaspora Calls To End Amnesty Programme
LAGOS FEBRUARY 28TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The Niger Delta region erupted in anger at the weekend following calls from an Ijaw leader and President of the Ijaw Peoples Association (IPA) in Great Britain and Ireland, Francis Akpanari, to terminate the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
Akpanari, who lives in the diaspora said in an interview: “I don’t think the programme has worked the way they designed it and once it didn’t happen that way, it means that the programme is not working. Back in London, so many of the amnesty boys that were supposed to be going to school have stopped because their school fees were not paid.
“And they started coming to the association to beg for money. I know about seven of them that have been working in London without going ahead with the programme. To me, it isn’t a successful programme.
“I don’t know if there are some people that benefited from it but the students that genuinely went to study, most of them didn’t complete their studies. The idea was good but it was mismanaged by so many different people. It is not successful, they better stop it”.
No sooner had Akpanari made the call than the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU), Forum for Ethnic Nationalities of the Niger Delta (FENND), ex-agitators and other leaders lampooned him.
The President of INC, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, said it was wrong to call for the scrapping of PAP because of a few problems.
He said most of the problems critics referred to disappeared immediately Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd) was appointed the Interim Coordinator of PAP.
He observed that Dikio introduced some great changes in the scheme giving it a new face compared to what obtained in the past.
Okaba said: “If you look at the programme itself, the changes being introduced by the current administrator, Milland Dikio, have blocked a lot of loopholes.
“The truth is that people who benefit from such corrupt practices will certainly not be happy. But right now, things have changed somehow. We see that money meant for the boys directly get to them much better than what we used to have in the past.
“To fight corruption is not something that is easy. It will take some time. We believe that over time, if Dikio is consistent with this new approach to ensuring that whatever releases are made get to the persons, there might be some delays, at the end of the day, that will bring more benefit to the people and the purpose for which the programme was established will now be realised.
“I think it is wrong to call for the scrapping the programme because it has problems. We have to repair it. Let us repair it together and make it more workable. If there are issues, let them identify them and the administrator is somebody you can reach out to so that if there are things to work on, let him do so.”
He insisted that scrapping the programme was far from being the solution to whatever problem that beset the scheme.
“The Amnesty programme was set up for a purpose. Yes, it has not fully actualised that purpose, that does not warrant the scrapping of the programme in its entirety. Instead, what is obtainable with intervention agency programmes and policies will call for improvements so that the mandate given will be actualised”, he said.
The National Publicity Secretary, Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU), the apex Urhobo socio-cultural group, Chief Abel Oshevire, warned against any call to scrap the scheme describing it as “stupid and nonsensical”.
Oshevire blamed some interests in Abuja for the plot but warned them to be “ready for the outcome of their stupid and nonsensical move”.
He said: “How much does the amnesty programme cost annually, compared to what we make from the sales of crude oil? How much does the programme cost, compared to what we lose from illegal bunkering and a lack of local production facilities?
He said although the programme would not run indefinitely, calls for scrapping it was ill-timed.
The Nation
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Posted by News Rangers
on Feb 28 2022. Filed under National.
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