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… Seek Increase in Beneficiaries’ Stipends from N65,000 to N100,000
By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
The Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND) has faulted calls for an increase in the budgetary allocation to contractors of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
According to the group, instead of an “unfounded budgetary increase, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should immediately increase the monthly stipend of Amnesty beneficiaries from N65,000 to N100,000 to cope with rising inflation.”
They also called on President Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, “to convene a meeting with the founding fathers of the Amnesty Programme to review the blueprint on the Presidential Amnesty Programme which has been allegedly abused, bastardized, and derailed under the Major Gen. Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.) as interim administrator.”
The Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND) made this known in a statement, issued and signed by Chief Ayibatekena Olodi, in reaction to calls by the Niger Delta Presidential Amnesty Programme Vendors Union for more budgetary allocation to the Programme.
The MSDND said that instead of an increased budgetary allocation to contractors of the Amnesty Programme, President Bola Tinubu should review upward the N65,000 approved to ex-agitators since 2009 to N100,000, adding that this “will be a more welcome development across the region with meaningful impacts.
“The N65,000 is a meagre stipend approved to ex-militants since 2009 despite the harsh economic conditions and inflation. These are ex-militants who have contributed immensely to the peace, security, and development of the atmosphere in the region. These contributions have encouraged improved oil and gas exploration and an increase in the revenue for the nation.
“These ex-agitators have maintained their side of the bargain in spite of the environmental degradation, deprivation and destruction. The meagre monthly N65,000 is the money managed for upkeep and used for medical bills of families affected by adverse effects of oil and gas exploration in the region which are not borne and suffered by other regions in the country.
“Any increase in the budgetary allocations for more contracts will automatically lead to more fraudulent and unexecuted contracts by contractors at the PAP. It’s a recipe for disaster, and we have all witnessed these magnitudes of fraud that lead to the five (5) days uninterrupted looting of the Amnesty Training and Vocational Centre located at Boro–Town, Kaiama in Bayelsa State in February 2019,” Olodi said.
MSDND also repeated their call for the removal of the PAP’s Interim Administrator, Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.), “over alleged wrongful handling of the programme, fraud and gross misconduct.
“Ndiomu should not be allowed to continue to allegedly sabotage the Amnesty programme which he never laboured for. He secretly deployed his relatives and friends children abroad for studies with no input from the true Amnesty beneficiaries or the Leaders of the programme,” they said.
According to the MSDND, “the Presidential Amnesty Programme has been derailed and bastardized under Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd.),” adding that “He is the worst Amnesty coordinator appointed in the life of the Amnesty programme. We call on President Tinubu to appoint someone from the struggle as the next Amnesty coordinator.
“The President should appoint someone who understands the plight of the ex-militants across the Niger Delta region. Just as no university will allow a lecturer without any scientific background to teach a master level physics class, so also must the Federal Government not appoint an outsider that does not understand the plights of ex-agitators to oversee the Amnesty Programme, because appointing an outsider again might lead to continuous failure.”
The group also pointed out that the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) was not established to compensate retired military personnel “who have plunged and mismanaged the programme,” adding that “the military generals that had managed the Amnesty Programme have all failed to achieve its mandate. Parts of their failures were because they didn’t understand the logic and reasons for the establishment of the programme, they saw the Amnesty programme as their personal compensation, and thus, they mismanaged the funds and the PAP.
“President Tinubu and the NSA Nuhu Ribadu should meet and work with the leaders of the programme to ascertain the best and clear path forward for the Amnesty Programme,” MSDND said.
