Leaders of Niger Delta ex-agitators have lauded the efforts of Maj. Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd) for the ongoing reforms in the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP) being implemented by the current PAP management.
They also expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for his support for Ndiomu and the Amnesty Programme.
The leaders made this known during an interactive session facilitated by the Presidential Amnesty Programme for leaders of PAP Phase Two in Calabar, Cross River state.
During the session, the leaders who took turns to bear their minds on the programme, lauded the leadership of PAP under Ndiomu and urged for the sustained implementation of the scholarship initiative as well as the recently initiated Cooperative program.
Ibena Rufus, a beneficiary of PAP phase two and the spokesman of the Ex-agitators leaders’ forum noted that the PAP has made a lot of progress under Ndiomu.
He noted that the area that gave previous administrators of PAP a huge challenge was reintegration which the current Interim Administrator has addressed creatively and competently.
Ibena recalled that the PAP started with disarmament and demobilization which were successful but ran into issues when it got to the reintegration aspect.
“Previous administrator could not tackle issues of reintegration but the current administrator has demonstrated capacity and resilience to tackle it.”
He commended the PAP boss for restructuring the program and taking it back to the people.
Also speaking, Olutu Wanemi, the Chairman of PAP phase two, said none of the PAP administrators thought of empowering the entire 30,000 beneficiaries of the programme before the coming of the present interim administrator.
He said the Cooperative Initiative introduced by the Interim Administrator is a welcome development.
According to Wanemi, “None of the leaders had earlier thought of empowering the entire 30,000 beneficiaries but we were shocked when the Interim Administrator came on board and introduced the cooperative scheme to accommodate everybody.
“This is a welcome development for the beneficiaries and the right thing to be done and I appeal that the current Interim Administrator should be reappointed by the President”, he said.
Similarly, Corinne Hart, another delegate in the meeting said with the reforms in place, things are getting better.
He added that within the past year, over 80% of the issues in the program have been addressed and this is reflected in the relative peace in the region.
“The Amnesty program was not really working for many leaders but recently with our brother there, we are beginning to feel the impact of the Amnesty Program.
“Almost 80% of the issues in the office have been handled by the current interim administrator and he has been harmonizing the leaders, talking with them, and doing the necessary things that should be done, we commend President Tinubu for this ”, he said.
Earlier, the Interim Administrator of the Programme, Barry Ndiomu said the essence of the program is to interact and discuss with the stakeholders who are beneficiaries of several reform interventions in the Niger Delta region.
Ndiomu who was represented by Major Marshall Akpor, the Agency Liaison Officer,
said the PAP wants to hear from the delegates and other stakeholders to get their feedback to improve the programme.
He disclosed that the Presidential Amnesty Cooperative Society Limited is aimed at giving an alternative livelihood to the ex-agitators and also the platform created for scholarships is aimed at ensuring that only real delegates benefit from the scheme.
On his part, the Head of the Reintegration program of PAP, Mr. Wilfred Musa disclosed that under the PAP scholarship scheme, over 10,000 have benefited since its inception and there is a monitoring and follow-up initiative on beneficiaries.
He said, “So far a good number have graduated and have taken jobs in different places.”
