By Aniefiok Akam
Former Niger Delta agitators under the Phase Three of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) on Thursday called on the Federal Government to urgently overhaul the amnesty office to enable deliver on its mandate for beneficiaries of the programme.
The ex-agitators specifically called on PAP Administrator, Col. Milland Dikio (retd) and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, to take the call serious for the progress of the programme and for peace in the region.
The group lamented that the current structure had made it impossible for the programme to perform optimally and deliver its mandate to the people of the oil-rich region.
The former creek warriors in a statement released under the auspices of the Niger Delta Reformed Force (NDRF), a copy of it made available to NIGER DELTA TODAY (NDT) Online, said those creating problems in the office and making it impossible for the scheme to succeed were not from the Niger Delta region.
The statement signed by the group’s Coordinator, General Osama, asked Dikio and Monguno to immediately disengage all the non-indigenes of Niger Delta working in the office to allow the people of the region manage the scheme.
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The statement said, “As a group, we urge the NSA and the new Administrator to as a matter of urgency remove all those who are working in the Amnesty office who do not have any relationship with the Niger Delta region, especially non-Ijaw speaking elements and replace them with our Ijaw brothers and sisters whose agitation led to the establishment of the PAP.
“It will be easier to hold our brothers and sisters accountable if there are any lapses in the system because if they fail to deliver, they will not be able to come back home and experience peace.
“But those from other regions as we have seen over the years are not committed and because they know we can’t reach them; they have mismanaged what should have been one of the best intentions of the Federal Government since we became a sovereign nation.
“Our people have the capacity to do the jobs there. From empowerment to reintegration to procurement. So why should we be made to play second fiddle? This is the right time to clean the place that has been so messed up by these non-indegenes, most of whom are civil servants.”
The group commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Dikio, an Ijaw man, to head the Programme and expressed confidence in his ability to deliver the huge expectations of all stakeholders in the region.
The NDRF also hailed Dikio’s strides since he resumed office, especially his efforts to clear outstanding contract payments, stipends of ex-agitators and ongoing verification for payment of fees of students of the amnesty programme.
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The ex-militants described as laughable attempts by some unscrupulous elements to advance political sentiment in the appointment of personal aides to the new Administrator.
They said a recent publication by a faceless group to blackmail the administrator over his choice of appointees smacked of bad blood and insisted that the amnesty boss reserved the right to appoint anyone from Ijaw extraction as his aide.
They said, “Our fellow Ijaw brothers should look at the big picture and not the sentiment of political party affiliation. People who are not from the Niger Delta are the biggest beneficiaries yet none of our people has ever spoken against that. Those people have hijacked the PAP for their personal gains.
“Most of the contracts are given to outsiders. That office is created to take care of ex militants not to take care of people who don’t have any link to the arms struggle and agitation for a better region.”
