Clement Idoko
The Strategic Communication Committee (STRATCOM), a body comprising leaders of ex-agitators drawn from phases one, two and three of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), has stated that the Niger Delta region is on the path of economic recovery.
The body, while commending the new PAP Interim Administrator, Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd), for his strides in the last six months since his assumption of office, said his policy initiatives and reforms have continued to strengthen the Programme.
STRATCOM Chairman Nature Dumale-Kieghe, who led other members to the Amnesty Office in Abuja, decried the entitlement mentality imbibed by some ex-agitators.
He noted that the policy initiatives introduced by General Ndiomu were to transform delegates from dependent on the monthly stipends to becoming proud entrepreneurs and employers of labour.
Responding, the Interim Administrator expressed appreciation to the members of STRATCOM for the high sense of maturity and patience exhibited and for having faith in his administration’s ability to change ex-agitators’ fortunes.
“If the current policy initiatives were introduced at the inception of the PAP, delegates would have been weaned off the sixty-five thousand naira stipends and progressed to self-sustaining.
“The NSA has given his endorsement for the legacy projects, particularly the cooperative society, which is being processed for registration with funds already set aside for take-off,” he said.
General Ndiomu noted that debts from the arbitrary scholarship award, the obligation to contractors, monthly stipend payments, which have been scaled down to an extent, and other running costs, were still an overwhelming burden on the finances of the Programme.
“We will engage some members of the diplomatic community and relevant donors as well as development agencies for their buy-in to enhance the sustainability of the legacy projects to drive the socio-economic process in the Niger Delta,” Ndiomu added.
The PAP boss further posited that the entitlement mentality among some persons in the region, and the atmosphere of violence, must change for healthy competition and economic development to prevail.
