…calls for constitution of substantive NDDC board
Yenagoa—The Niger Delta Unification and Advancement Movement (NDUAM) has felicitated Maj. Gen. Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retd) on his recent appointment as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Program, PAP.
In a statement released to newsmen by its spokesman, Comr. Selekumo Timothy on Tuesday, the group described Ndiomu as a thoroughbred Niger Deltan with vast knowledge and experience who is fit for his new role.
The group expressed belief that Ndiomu will live up to the expectations of his new office, by prioritizing the welfare and advancement of PAP’s stakeholders and candidates including those from impacted communities.
However, the group tasked Ndiomu to continue from where his predecessor stopped and possibly outperform him.
The statement reads: “Gladly, Ndiomu is coming at a time his predecessor, Colonel Milland Dikio (retd) had sanitized the system.
“Niger Deltans are aware of how Col. Dikio’s tenure ended the admission racketeering in schools and the delayed payment of amnesty beneficiaries and scholarship students.
“While we will not question President Muhamadu Buhari for replacing a performing Dikio, we expect Ndiomu to continue from where his predecessor stopped and outperform him.
“It would be recalled that before Dikio came on board, scholarship opportunities were given to people who weren’t ready for school.
“A popular private university based in Delta State and a few others were found culpable in this admission racketeering.
“The Dikio administration introduced better schools such as Nile, Baze, and Afe Babalola universities and also made room for public tertiary institutions like Uniport, Unilag, and what have you.
“For the first time, the PAP ensured that beneficiaries had the required O’level certificates and were made to write JAMB’s UTME.
“An online portal for admissions was also created and made public for Niger Deltans to avoid the fraudulent syndicates posing to be PAP.
“We equally have it on good authority that nominations were taken from ex-agitators and few people from the impacted communities were also considered.
“Dikio-led PAP worked in conjunction with the schools to further screen nominees before their acceptance.
“In few instances, after screening from the respective universities, some were screened out based on educational qualifications, age, and attitudinal problems.
“The fraud ended and the masterminds who got offended fought back, especially those who were trading scholarship chances for outrageous amounts.
“Ndiomu has been given a golden chance by the President to improve upon what Dikio did. We expect the Ndiomu-led PAP to send Niger Delta students to the best universities in Nigeria and abroad like Harvard and Yale.”
Addressing stories of federal government’s plan to end the amnesty programme, the group said; “We do not want to believe the vexatious rumour that he was appointed to end the amnesty program.
“Indeed PAP will end one day, but we don’t think we have achieved so much to consider such, considering the sorry state of the region.
“One of the critical components of reintegration PAP owes our people is sending them to school. Other parts of the country are using PTDF to do so.
“For instance, the Ministry of Niger Delta and the Niger Delta Development Commission have been comatose in the immediate past years and it is safe to say only PAP under Dikio sent our people for further education. It would therefore be wicked for anybody to end the program in 2023.”
The group further called on Ndiomu to continue the prompt payment of stipends and in-training allowances to beneficiaries of the programme.
NDUAM equally urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently constitute a substantive board of the NDDC given that the forensic audit has been long concluded and submitted.
