The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has said that its actions are linked to reducing poverty in the Niger Delta Region, notably in the lives of former agitators, as the globe observes the 2023 International Day for Eradication of Poverty.
Maj Gen Barry Ndiomu (retd), the interim administrator of the program, told media on Tuesday in Abuja that PAP, under his direction, is ingeniously creating possibilities to change the lives of ex-agitators beyond dependency on N65,000 monthly stipends.
Ndiomu emphasized the importance of this year’s Poverty Eradication Day theme, “Decent Work And Social Protection: Putting Dignity In Practice For All,” and claimed that the PAP’s current initiatives will give former protesters a chance to avoid the World Bank’s prediction that, over the next ten years, “one billion young people will try to enter the job market, but less than half of them will find formal jobs.”
Ndiomu pointed out that many more measures still in the works to address poverty and modify the bad perceptions of the area, in addition to the PAP cooperative plan for former agitators that has already been floated, empowerment programs, and vocational training.
He continued by saying that while 2,500 applications are awaiting processing, over 700 former protesters have already gotten cash in the form of loans to start farms and other lucrative businesses.
He referred to the 75 pilots and aircraft engineers that PAP had financed to attend type-rating courses at various aviation training facilities in Lagos (Nigeria), Johannesburg (South Africa), and Toulouse (France) as part of its aviation training program.
Gen. Ndiomu remembered that the ex-agitators who turned in their weapons when the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua implemented the Presidential Amnesty Programme in 2009 ranged in age from 25 to 30. He noticed that 14 years later, they had reached the 50 to 55 age bracket when they were no longer employable.
Ndiomu minimized PAP’s efforts to steer ex-agitators away from formal work and the entitlement attitude and toward more feasible and sustainable means of subsistence in light of this fact.
Ndiomu praised President Bola Tinubu for his resolve to continue supporting the initiative.
“The President has the Niger Delta’s best interests in mind. To transform the unfavorable perceptions of the region, we will strive in accordance with his Renewed Hope Agenda, Ndiomu added.
