Amgbare Ekaunkumo, Yenagoa
A prominent ex-agitator leader Francis Muturu has called on the management of the Presidential Amnesty Programme to carry out a thorough investigation to fish out those staff of the PAP engaged in leaking official and confidential documents.
Muturu who was speaking to journalists after a meeting with the PAP boss in his office in Abuja, noted that the Presidential Amnesty Office is a national security programme and leaking confidential documents poses a serious threat to the Nigerian nation and its people.
“Leaking of confidential and official documents by staff of the Presidential Amnesty Programme has become a thing of concern and unless drastic measures were taking, the trend would have grave consequences and capable of hurting innocent people as well as placing Nigeria in danger”
‘Because it is a national security programme, staff swore to an oath of secrecy and anyone found to have reneged or defaulted on that vow should be decisively dealt with including dismissal and be made to face the law with the possibility of serving a jail term”
Francis Muturu who was an aide to former Delta State Governor also wants stakeholders in the Niger Delta to throw their weight behind General Ndiomu to enable him to continue with the good work he is doing which is impacting positively on both the region and ex-agitators.
“I have told General Ndiomu to remain resolute and be focused as allowing distractions will not be in the best interest of anyone as it portends danger to the Niger Delta; the Interim Administrator has shown capacity in re-writing the socio-economic narrative of the region as well as change the fortunes of ex-agitators”.
The ex-agitator leader who is also a foremost security expert said the PAP boss should be honoured for his doggedness to check the alleged systemic corruption in the office whereby multiple accounts are linked to a single BVN and payments for unsubstantiated contracts running into humungous amounts.
He contended that if past chief executives of the PAP had come with a similar mindset and initiatives, the success story of the Presidential Programme would have been different with delegates being self-reliant and weaned off the sixty-five thousand monthly stipend long before now.
“The monthly sixty-five thousand Naira is not only encouraging a culture of indolence, dependency syndrome and entitlement mentality among beneficiaries being a tripple recipe for a life-long poverty among ex-agitators and the Niger Delta region. Since the proclamation of the presidential amnesty in 2009 by late President Musa Yar’dua, the majority of beneficiaries have nothing to hold onto because of their dependency on monthly stipend”.
Mr Muturu noted that sixty-five thousand Naira exchanges for less than a hundred dollars now unlike when the Programme was instituted about fourteen years ago. The best way to go according to him is to imbibe an entrepreneurship culture among ex-agitators and youths to build their skills and encourage them to set up their own businesses.
He commended General Ndiomu for initiating the legacy projects particularly the cooperative scheme geared towards making delegates entrepreneurs and employers of labour instead of being stipend dependents who will go on a protest following the slightest delay in payment.
“I want to encourage all ex-agitators to look at the bigger picture and change their mindset. I stopped thinking about sixty-five thousand Naira a long time ago. I now think big because PAP has changed my life and thinking and it would not be fair on my part to keep quiet while some ill-informed persons try to discredit the Interim Administrator and the Programme”.
“One of my major concerns is the incessant changes of chief executives of the Programme. The lack of sustainability has impacted negatively on policy implementation and project execution and since the new policy initiatives by General Ndiomu would serve as platforms to change the socio-economic narrative of ex-agitators and the Niger Delta, it is the desire of positive minded stakeholders to sue for continuity and sustainability” Muturu added.
