Abuja—Leader of the third phase of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Mr. Bobo Tonye has called on ex-agitators and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta region to give the needed support towards the success of the recently launched Presidential Amnesty Cooperative Society Limited.
Tonye who is also the Financial Secretary of the cooperative made this known in an interview with Daily Asset, a national newspaper in Abuja.
He stated that the cooperative under the Chairmanship of Justice F.F Tabai is poised to change the lives of the 30,000 ex-agitators in the Niger Delta.
“I want to assure you that it will not be business as usual where people will be trained and given starter packs only to misuse or sell them.
As I am speaking with you, we are having N1.5b in our account managed by ex-agitators.
“We will be kick-starting sensitization, talking to our people, the ex-agitators from various states of the Niger Delta and we will start with Bayelsa state.
“As part of the preparations, the Monetary and Evaluation team will be fully involved.
“We have the integration staff that will help to make sure all who will participate are the beneficiary of the Amnesty Programme.
“I believe our father, our mentor, our boss, Major General Ndiomu (rtd) has done nobly by kickstarting this cooperative,” he said.
The former ex-agitator also noted that 500 ex-agitators will benefit from the loan facility of the cooperative to start new businesses or grow existing ones.
He lauded the PAP Interim Administrator for his foresight in blocking leakages in the programme and giving it a sense of purpose.
“Ndiomu has blocked all the leakages, that is why people will always be going against him, using all derogatory statements against him, just because he doesn’t want it to be business as usual,” he said.
