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By David Owei, Yenagoa
Amnesty students under the aegis of National Association of Presidential Amnesty Students (NAPAS) have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government and the Presidential Amnesty Programme over outstanding payments.
This is contained in a communique issued in Yenagoa at the end of its meeting on Sunday, August 23, in collaboration with the Niger Delta Students’ Union Government (NIDSUG) and Coalition of Unpaid PAP Students.
The students threaten to “block the East-West Road for 72 hours” and embark on a “national protest to disrupt the operations of all multinational oil and gas assets and firms in the Niger Delta Region” in addition to other future actions when the ultimatum expires on Tuesday, September 2.
The communiqué, signed by Somina Igani, NAPAS President, Emieye Romeo, NIDSUG, Gabriel Zuobai, Unpaid PAP Students and Ayibaemi Bekeobiri, NAPAS secretary said the protest will target NCDMB, NDDC, NNPC, SPDC, Belema Oil, Chevron, LNG and flow stations among others.
Other demands are the appointment of a competent Niger Deltan as coordinator of PAP, a fresh opportunity for students deprived of online verification, restructuring of PAP and addressing of fears over the scrapping of the programme.
They also called for probe and prosecution of past PAP coordinators that defrauded the programme and all non-Niger Deltans occupying offices in the programme to vacate such offices.
The students kicked at the delay in the payment of monthly in-training allowances between 30 days and six months, unrealistic online verification exercise by the caretaker committee that disenfranchised over 70 percent of the students.
Other issues include the rejection of those who participated in the online verification, which placed their scholarships at risk, denial of 1,500 Nigerian Law School students and over 3,000 Master’s degree students’ participation in the verification exercise.
They also complained of non-payment of 10 years housing allowance and stressed the need for “immediate appointment of a substantive coordinator in the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and need for continuity of the programme.”
