Major-General Barry Ndiomu (retd) has handed over the baton of leadership of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to Dr. Dennis Otuaro, after a productive 18-month stewardship.
Technical Assistant to the former Interim Administrator, Ita Henshaw handed over the notes to Otuaro in a brief ceremony at the PAP’s office in Abuja, on Monday.
In a remark, Otuaro assured that he will work towards justifying the confidence reposed in him by President Bola Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
“My mission in the presidential amnesty programme’s office is to render quality service to the Niger Delta region and to the good of the nation and there would be no room for failure,” he said.
Otuaro urged the management and members of staff to be focused and work closely with him to achieve the PAP mandate, adding: “I am not in the amnesty’s office to pursue personal gains and I am urging all members of staff to embrace those principles which I hold dear for our collective good.
“I need everybody’s cooperation here to take this programme to greatness. My appeal is as from today we should back the crowd and face the job. I need everyone’s cooperation so we don’t disappoint the president, the NSA, the people of the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole.
“I believe in this country. Everything about me is in this country and it is also in the Niger Delta.
“We will streamline whatever that we know that is giving us the load to provide excuses, we must streamline some things and we will work together.”
It will be recalled that President Tinubu had approved the appointment of Otuaro as Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme on Thursday last week.
Given the giant footprints left by Ndiomu, Niger Delta youths will be expecting Otuaro to raise the bar further to address the issues in the region, as it concerns the PAP and the struggle to better the lives of beneficiaries.
From the resuscitation and training of Type-Rated as Pilots and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers, to the Presidential Amnesty Cooperative Scheme and sustained scholarships, as well as many other flagship initiatives, Ndiomu’s contribution to the improvement of the lives of PAP beneficiaries remain indelible.
Ndiomu was appointed PAP Interim Administrator on September 15, 2022, by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Presidential Amnesty Programme was initiated and signed into law in 2009, to stem youth restiveness, agitation and ruination of oil processing infrastructure in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region. The mandate was to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate ex-agitators back into society.
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