The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Amnesty Office

  • Facts behind my EFCC invitation – Nwuche

    Facts behind my EFCC invitation – Nwuche

    A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche, on Thursday cleared the air on his invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to explain how a N5 billion contract awarded to him by the Amnesty Office was executed.

    A statement from the Foundation for Youth Development, chaired by Nwuche, revealed the former Deputy Speaker’s involvement in the controversial contract.

    According to the statement, the problem started from the execution of second tranche of contracts by the Foundation.

    It reads, “Following the inception of Presidential Amnesty Programme, the Foundation for Youth Development was invited to mentor and train ex-militants from the Niger Delta. Hon Chibudom Nwuche is the Chairman of the Foundation. As a member of the Presidential Committee on the Niger Delta set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan, it was natural that Hon. Nwuche’s Foundation was considered to play a role in the training of the ex-militants.

    “The relationship, which dates to 2011, started with the initial award of three contracts for the training and capacity building for about 300 Niger Delta ex-militants in Sweden, Malaysia and Vietnam in shore-based and marine studies which it successfully executed.

    “This was to be followed up with provision of practical sea-time experience for the graduates.  Following the successful completion of the training programmes, another set of three contracts were further awarded to FYD for which it was mobilised N2.7bn.

    “The present issues arose from the execution of the second set of three contracts.

    “The Foundation commenced the execution of these contracts by identifying the various schools outside Nigeria and also requested for the list of trainees from the Amnesty office in line with provisions of the contract.

    “During the course of mobilization for the contracts, requests for funds came from the Presidential Amnesty Office for assistance to pay some ex-militant leaders and stipends for their boys who were growing restive, as the Amnesty Office’s funding was delayed, with a clear understanding that the funds would be returned.  FYD, as stakeholders in the programme obliged them. Written requests were made for the refunds but not honoured and the list of trainees was also not provided despite several documented reminders.

    “When it appeared that the amnesty programme was to be wound up, the Foundation approached the Federal High Court through a suit – No. FHC/ABJ/CS/769/2015, and demanded that Amnesty Office fulfil their part of the contract as well as to deposit the outstanding contract sums in the court, to be accessed by the Foundation on the completion of the contract. The Foundation also made a claim for special and general damages totalling N5bn.

    “This step was taken on the advice of the legal advisers to the Foundation who advised that in the event of winding down of the programme, the Foundation will suffer great losses, especially when the sums advanced to Amnesty Office was not captured officially and the outstanding sums due to the Foundation would go with the winding up.”

  • Ex-Niger Delta militants protest unpaid stipends

    Travelers were held up for hours at the Mbiama axis of the East-West Road, Rivers State, on Monday, following a protest by ex-militant leaders over unpaid five- month stipends by the Amnesty Office.

    The Nation gathered that the angry ex-agitators seized the busy road at about 6:00am in a protest that trapped commuters and drivers heading for Port Harcourt, Rivers and Warri in Delta State.

    The ex-agitators displayed placards with inscriptions such as “Buhari, pay us our stipends,” “Don’t politicize Niger Delta Amnesty,” and “Boroh pay us our money.”

    They chanted solidarity songs and demanded that the stipends should be paid with immediate effect.

    It was learnt that heavily armed soldiers and other security operatives took strategic positions at the scene of the protest to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

    Our correspondent learnt that it took the intervention of the Commander, Operation Delta Safe (OPS), Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie, for the former agitators to open the road to traffic.

    Okojie urged the ex-militants to be patient with authorities and assured them that their stipends would be paid.

    Reacting to the protest, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd), told the ex-agitators that their delayed stipends would be paid this week.

    Boroh in a statement issued by the Bayelsa State Liaison Officer, PAP, Mr. Piriye Kiyaramo, lamented the plight of the ex-agitators over the delayed stipends.

    He reiterated the federal government’s commitment to re-engineering the amnesty programme for the benefits of the ex-militants.

     

  • Amnesty office begins reintegration of ex-militants

    The office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) on Thursday said it has commenced its third phase of sustainable reintegration of about 30,000 ex-militants in the region.

    It said the reintegration of the ex-agitators commenced after the successful implementation of the disarmament and demobilization phases of the programme.

    The Niger Delta Liaison Officer, Office of the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr. Piriye Kiyaramo, spoke in Yenagoa on Thursday when he visited the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel (FCC) of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).

    Kiyaramo was accompanied by the Executive Director, Peace Advocates Outreach (PAO), Chief Kalaiti Jephthah-Obadiah and the Chief Executive Officer, Mahogany 21st Century Event (MCE), Mr. Enyinemi Omoruzi, among others.

    According to him as part of efforts to achieve successful reintegration process, the Amnesty Office created liaison offices in various Niger Delta states to bridge the existing gaps between Abuja and the stakeholders in the region.

    Kiyaramo said: “Our amnesty programme is very large in terms of population. It is funded by the Nigerian government as it is obtainable in other conflict areas where DDR programme is in place.

    “By DDR programme, I mean Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration. When you disarm the combatants, you bring them into camps, which is demobilization. After that you train them and when they have been trained, you reintegrate them into the society. I want to tell you that the stage we are now is the stage of reintegration.

    “We are carrying out sustainable reintegration of the ex-agitators. This process involves setting up means of livelihood for them to be able to participate in the local economy. And so, we have started giving them starters packs in different areas to enable them to reintegrate properly into the civil society in their communities.”

     

  • ‘Amnesty Office has abandoned our children in U.S’

    Angry parents of 43 scholarship students under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) on Friday lamented that their children had been abandoned in United States by the Amnesty Office.

    The parents appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the plight of their children and save their education.

    The parents in a statement signed on their behalf in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, by Mr. Kingsley Feboke, Mr. Ayente Douglas and Mrs. Victoria Feboke, said their children were on the verge of being evicted from their various schools.

    They explained that the students were enrolled in American universities through the PAP’s Special Scholarship for Crisis Impacted Communities (SSCIC).

    They said the scholarship programme was created by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to absorb youths from crisis-impacted areas in the Niger Delta region into the amnesty programme.

    The aggrieved parents complained that the programme was going smoothly until a disagreement occurred between the authorities in the Amnesty Office and Kaplan Consultants.

    They said the amnesty office and the consultants were playing politics with the education and lives of their children.

    The parents said: “We are constrained to raise the alarm because our children have been abandoned in the United States and are being treated as Prisoners of War.

    “These children are between the ages of 16 and 17. We got report that the Amnesty Office is considering revoking the contract with Kaplan (the consultants).

    “We understand that Kaplan has a valid and subsisting contract with the Amnesty Office where students are enrolled in higher institutions in the United States after undergoing a globally recognised educational foundation training otherwise called Pathway Programme.”

  • Why students are returning from UK, by Amnesty Office

    The Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme has said it is not true that beneficiaries of the programme were returning from their training in the United Kingdom (UK) because the Amnesty Office failed to meet their financial needs.

    In a statement in Abuja by its Head of Media, Owei Lakemfa, the Amnesty Office said beneficiaries of the programme returned from the UK, following the expiration of their visa and the 28-day window policy of the UK.

    The statement reads: “The Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme wishes to state that there is no iota of truth in the claims that some students abroad have had to return to the country due to lack of resources to meet their financial obligations.

    “The students abroad and in the country on the Amnesty Scholarship Programme have received their payments. However, a few students abroad are yet to be paid because the payments, which have foreign exchange components, have to pass through the new Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    “Before now, there was a backlog of payments, due to the three-month absence of a signing authority in the Amnesty Office; this followed the change of government and the removal of the former Coordinator.

    “Upon assumption of office in August, the new Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd), immediately ensured the clearing of the backlog. However, the introduction of the TSA in September, which affected all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), has understandably led to a slowdown of payments as the CBN perfects the system.

    “Gen. Boroh, who has personally visited some students under the Amnesty Programme in the country and abroad, assures affected students that everything possible is being done in concert with the CBN to ensure that they get their payments as quickly as possible.

    “Students who are returning from the UK are not doing so due to non-payment of fees or allowances, but because their visas are expiring and are affected by the 28-day window policy of that country. It is in the interest of such students to return as the policy provides for a 10-year ban from entering Britain for anyone caught with expired visa.

    “The October 2015 stipend to those covered under the Amnesty Programme is delayed because the Fourth Quarter Release (October – December) to the Amnesty Office has not been perfected.”

  • It’s Urhobo’s turn to head amnesty office

    It’s Urhobo’s turn to head amnesty office

    The President, National Coalition Niger Delta Ex-Agitators (NCNDE-A) , Israel Akpodoro, in this interview, explains why the Urhobo-speaking people should take charge of the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government.

    You have been in the forefront of engaging a technocrat to lead the Amnesty Programme, what informs your position? 

    Well, a technocrat would certainly manage that laudable programme of the Federal Government  much better than a politician would do. While a detribalised administrator seeks ways to better the lives of the people, a hedonistic, fraudulent and tribalistic politician will want to loot the Amnesty Office dry and sustain the lopsidedness already existing in the distribution of the benefits of the programme.

    In this regard, the amnesty programme was designed by a detribalised, well educated Urhobo man whose track record is that of honesty and sincerity. He came up with the template with which originally the amnesty took off until the looting cabal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ýcame on board to hijack and messed up the programme. This Urhobo man drew the road map for today’s amnesty programme without bias. This is why I am of the opinion that the management of the amnesty programme goes to another ethnic nationality and not the ijaw nation any more.

    Why not the Ijaw nation? 

    At the risk of sounding tribal, I wish to state categorically that the Ijaw monopolised all the positives in the programme . About 85 per cent of the beneficiaries of the programme overseas are mainly Ijaw people. Other nationalities in the region noted the same pattern of tribalism ýbetween the duo because they are ijaw people.

    It behoves on President Buhari to look beyond the Ijaw and remember that the Delta region is not for the Ijaw alone. We have the Urhobo, Ndokwa, Isoko, Itsekiri, Akwa Ibom, Ibiobio, Ikwere, Ogoni, Kalabari, Andoni, and Efik tribes in the region. The urhobo are the 5th largest ethnic nationality in Nigeria and should therefore be considered by the president for the job.

    Talking about security of the oil facilities in the country, what’s your position on the revocation by the Federal Government of the pipeline surveillance contracts recently?

    The Federal Government, through the NNPC, took the right step in the cancellation of those pipeline contracts. The Federal Government should consider re-awarding the contracts to the ex-militants in their different domains to complement what the security agencies would do. While the conventional security apparatus have the needed expertise, the non conventional securities mostly the ex-militants know the terrains and could in a synergy with conventional security achieve the desired protection for the oil facilities. Surveillance contracts should, therefore, be awarded to the oil facility bearing communities. The security of pipelines in Urhoboland should be awarded to Urhobo man ditto other tribes.

    Equity should displace discrimination in the distribution of the positives of the amnesty program. During the past administration, the people of the Niger Delta region witnessed the worst marginalisation as it concerns the amnesty programme. Except you were connected to the powers that be, even if you are an Ijaw man, nothing comes to you let alone be ing from another tribe.

    Aside from Urhobo nation, what other tribe would you readily recommend for the job?

    A man from Ndokwa or Isoko nations will equally assuage the people of the region because these are tribes that have suffered various degrees of marginalisation. My major take, however, is that it must not be an Ijaw man this time. Any other tribe from the region will be okay, Ijaw must learn to know that the amnesty office is not their exclusive preserve.

    How do you think the current peace in the Delta region can be sustained?

    If the right people are put in the right place, peace would certainly prevail in the region and nobody would threaten the peace under any guise. Let’s try other people in the management of the amnesty and we would all see the difference. Past administrators saw the amnesty as their baby feeder and what I am saying is that they should be probed. How can an office be gutted by fire a day or two before or after your exit as head of that office? Recently, youths barricaded the East-West road over unpaid allowances but further investigation proved that the boys were incited by a man who was reluctant to handover the office. He actually called the boys and ordered them to block the road to stampede the FG into payment of the allowance because he wanted to loot the office that month. A new administrator would ensure adequate payment of the ex-agitators across board without discrimination, d?evelop the boys according to laid down rules honestly and with utmost sincerity. ?Meeting the needs of the people of the region is another thing this administration should look into. Environmental degradation, gas flaring, pollution, poverty, unemployment…are still plaguing the region and all these ought to have been addressed by the immediate past government but for sleaze occasioned by wanton corruption. Peace, no doubt will reign supreme in the region because the people now know better who their enemies are. Our common enemies are the looters of the amnesty office whose priorities are to acquire property all over the world, fund girlfriends, buy aeroplanes at the detriment of the people. Our common enemies in the Delta are those who submitted fake list of names purportedly from the region to dupe the Federal Government in its amnesty programme and monthly they smile to the bank while the downtrodden and the masses of the Niger Delta people died in pains and anguish from acute poverty and common ailments. The people of the Niger Delta region now know that the state governor who loot the treasury rather than use it to better the lots of the people is the enemy of the region/people and not the Federal Government. We now know better that the people of the Niger Delta are its own worst enemies and not the man in Abuja.

  • Akwa Ibom indigenes seek review of Amnesty Office’s scholarship beneficiaries

    Many indigenes of Akwa Ibom are not happy with the Amnesty Office. Reason: they say the office’s recently released list of beneficiaries of one of its scholarship scheme is skewed against their state. They say the list did not reflect their state’s status as a major oil-bearer.

    One of those who have spoken against the list is the pioneer National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Anietie Okon.

    During the week, he decried  the 254 names published by the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta as  the beneficiaries of the special scholarship programme for students from the Niger Delta.

    He said: “We are forced to question whether the Office of the Special Adviser on Amnesty is still representing the interest of the people of the region, given the persistent exclusivity that has become evident in the execution of the brief and mandate of the office.”

    Okon, a delegate representing Akwa Ibom State at the National Conference, reacting to the list, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to draw the attention of the Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, to what he termed a grave and an unacceptable anomaly with its attendant capacity to undermine the intent and standing of governments and the leadership of the region.

    The office on August 1 published  a list of 254 people as the beneficiaries of the special scholarship programme for students from the Niger Delta, who passed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and are qualified for admission into the universities.

    According to the list, of a total of 254 beneficiaries, Akwa Ibom got three; Bayelsa, 102; Cross River, three; Delta, 55; Edo, 10; Imo, 10; Ondo, 43 and Rivers, 28.

    Okon noted that it was embarrassing for a state like Akwa Ibom, the leading oil producing state, to be allocated only three; Edo State, the cradle of knowledge to get only 10, while Bayelsa got 102.

    He stressed that it was a confirmation of the narrow prismed understanding “of the dynamics of our political survival realities and an unfortunate exhibition of misplaced callous insensitivity as well as political naivety”, adding that the move was capable of  “damaging the cohesion and shared common interest of the people of the region.”

    He added: “It is a callous act of insensitivity and political naivety on the part of the Special Adviser on Niger Delta, to posit that justice and transparency prevailed where only three students from Akwa Ibom and Cross River states and 10 from Edo State enjoyed the scholarship. This can damage the purpose of the intervention initiative. It makes nonsense of the call for unanimity in the area. The mindless impunity implied is as grievous as it is equally pathetic.  How can they explain this absence of rationality? It is unacceptable. I demand that those responsible for this outrage get real.”

    The Ekid people of Akwa Ibom also flayed the list.

    In a letter to Hon. Bassey Dan-Abia jnr, member,representing Eket Federal Constituency

    House of Representatives, they said: “When we read the story, our first impression was to thank God almighty that you are still in the House of Representatives, contrary to the impression in the minds of our people in Eket(Eket/Onna/Esit Eket/Ibeno) Federal Constituency, that we have nobody in that hallowed “Green” Chamber since the 2012 eclipse.?

    ”Further note that, our concern in the story at hand is that of alarm and outrage. We can still not comprehend, how a member representing a core oil state, one that you rightly noted, holds the reputation as the highest oil producing state, would have stood by and the entire processes of award of scholarship for oil producing states are completed and published without even a slot for Eket Federal Constituency.?

    ”Aware that, the process may have commenced with the advertisement of the award, then proceeded to the stage of application, screening and then shortlisting of qualified applicants, before the announcement of those selected.?

    ”Further aware that, in all of these stages, our member never deemed it expedient to alert his people on what was going on. The youths of this constituency were never in any way informed of what was going on to enable them even apply.?

    ”Worried that, it appears our honourable member was held up in his infamous “bird house theatre of absurdities” when other representatives in the House,were lobbying for their people, only for him to wake up with a self-serving press statement when all the processes had been concluded.?

    ”Further worried that, we do not understand what you  as our honourable member sort to achieve by issuing an ineffectual press release, when you have all the legislative powers of oversight, appropriation and other instruments and network at your disposal to tame the angst. Not to worry; we understand. You cannot give what you do not have. Your belated show of Dutch-courage cannot fool anybody, because we are sure you don’t even know where the Amnesty(Kuku’s) office is located in Abuja.?

    “Regret to mourn with you the loss of yet another opportunity to invest in the lives of young people in our constituency and hasten to tell you that, we are not in the least surprised at this turn of event. Honourable member, why this sudden feeble attempt at “fighting” for your people? Where were you all this time when our constituency as a major oil bearing area has lost out in various other federal government initiatives meant for oil producing areas??

    ”Disturbed and want to know where you placed Eket Federal Constituency’s interest on the interventionist programmes by the same Amnesty office such as Overseas Special Scholarship Programme and Retooling/Skill Acquisition in Welding, Fabrication, Piloting, Instrument, payment of skill gap stipends? How far have you gone in the protection and actualization of the projects your predecessor facilitated in the National Budget including NTA Channel 35, Eket; 8no.Primary Health centres at Akpautong; Uquo; Edor; Etebi; Okat; Ikot Ntan Ide; Afaha Atai; Ikot Nkan, which contracts were awarded by the Primary Health Development Agency and equipment supplied; even as we continue to face challenging public health predicament in our Constituency?Again, what has happened to the Ntan Ide-Ikot Udo bridge, onna; Cross River Basin Irrigation and Canal farm at Onna;Upenekang e-library;the Federal Ministry of Environment Mkpok-Okat Erosion Control/Drainage Contract; agricultural infrastructure in Nduo Eduo, Eket.”