Amnesty programme for N/Delta youths being repositioned says Official

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) for Niger Delta ex,-militants has been undergoing reforms in the last one year, an official has said.

 

Mr Nneotabase Egbe, Special Adviser on Media to Interim Administrator of PAP, Col. Milland Dikio (rtd)  on Wednesday that the ongoing reform is already yielding fruits.

 

Egbe explained that the Interim Administrator of PAP met the scheme in ruins and took steps to correct to anomalies.

 

He said the PAP under Dikio's watch discovered that the amnesty payroll was padded with 400 duplicated names.

 

 

 

Egbe, said the irregularities noticed a year ago led investigations and verification of the 30,000 accounts receiving the N65, 000 monthly stipends.

 

 

He said that the scrutiny has so far revealed that some of the accounts were fake and fraudulently used to siphon funds meant for original ex-agitators.

 

 

“Immediately the investigation commenced, the amnesty office stopped the stipends of the accounts undergoing probe. It is the right to do.

 

 

“I can tell you that some of the accounts had been cleared and their owners will receive their stipends. 

"But efforts are being intensified to discover the identities of persons receiving monies through identified fake accounts,” Egbe said.

 

 

Egbe said that the PAP under Dikio was determined to cleanse the system to ensure that amnesty’s resources were expended on real and verifiable ex-agitators and not on impostors.

 

 

 

According to Egbe, some aggrieved contractors who allegedly perpetrated sharp practices were were behind propaganda and smear campaign against Dikio because the Interim Administrator resisted pressure they mounted on him to pay them for jobs not done.

 

 

“Investigations revealed that contractors of the PAP office were not delivering their jobs in accordance with their terms of contracts.

 

 

“These contractors want to be paid for laptops that were not supplied and others who supplied, delivered counterfeit and substandard products,” he said.

 

 

Egbe maintained that Dikio was determined to cleanse the system and no amount of blackmail would stop him from driving the reforms to a logical conclusion. 

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