Don’t scrap Amnesty Programme, Niger Delta groups beg President-Elect, Bola Tinubu

A Coalition of Niger Delta Civil Society groups has begged Nigeria’s President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu, not to scrap the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

The coalition also appealed to Tinubu not to sack the Interim Administrator of the Amnesty Programme, General Barry Ndiomu.

It said the progress of the current transformation of the programme under Ndiomu does not need alteration.

Speaking at a press briefing in Akure, the Coordinator of the Coalition, Bunawari Famous Doso, said the programme has been retooled for efficiency.

Comrade Doso said many ex-agitators whose stipends were stopped for the past three years have been paid.

Doso said Ndiomu ended the era where the entitlements and welfare of beneficiaries of the PAP projects were bastardised on the altar of selfish interest and personal aggrandizement.

He said there were hopes that bright and promising ex-agitators might begin to widen the scope of their income the moment they were able to invest some of the grants that would be given to them.

He said: “Ndiomu has met with the European Union delegates on how best his proposed cooperative scheme for the ex-agitator could be more fast-tracked in his bid to ensure that people are empowered beyond the scope of the monthly stipends.

“We are not surprised that some people are disgruntled with the man who have been working assiduously well to ensure that the people he oversees do not turn out shortchanged on what is due to them.

“This is the first time in the history of the scheme that an Interim Administrator is ready to relate with his people by setting no boundaries.”

The Nation