As part of measures to improve security, geared towards sustainable reintegration of the ex-Niger Delta agitators in Edo State, the Special Adviser to the President/Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-General Paul Boroh (rtd), in collaboration with the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has concluded plans to establish an Amnesty Office in the state.
Brig-Gen. Boroh who disclosed this when he made his first visit to the governor Adams Oshiomhole at the Government House, Benin, as part of his walking tour to states in the Niger Delta, said the state amnesty office would serve as a command and control post which enable the Presidential Amnesty Office in Abuja to have a firm control of the beneficiaries at the grassroots.
He explained that the initiative of setting up amnesty offices in the affected states was meant to sensitize key stakeholders in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, informing that the state offices comprise representatives from the state government, the military and para-military, representative of the Presidential Amnesty Office, representative of the ex-agitators in the state and other relevant key stakeholders.
According to him, the focus of the Presidential Amnesty Programme under his charge is to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for the 30, 000 ex-agitators enlisted on the programme, with a view to properly reintegrating them into the society.
On the delay in the payment of stipends and in-training allowances to beneficiaries, particularly offshore students, the presidential aide maintained that while his office was saddled with the verification of names and accounts of beneficiaries, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) processes and effects the transfer of the funds to individual accounts of the beneficiaries in line with the federal government’s directive on the Treasury Single Accounts (TSA).
He therefore advised the beneficiaries in the programme to exercise patience with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on its anti-corruption stance, pointing out that TSA policy is meant to block most, if not all leakages which have been the bane of the growth of the our national economy in the past.
Responding, Gov. Oshiomhole described the visit as a clear departure from the past, saying that President Muhammadu Buhari made the best decision in appointing him as Special Adviser/Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, given his credentials in peace building and conflict resolution.
Gov. Oshiomhole, while commending the ongoing peace building efforts by the Presidential Amnesty Office, under Brig-Gen. Boroh, maintained that sustainable businesses and investors will be attracted to the region when there is an enduring peace in the area.
The governor therefore called on the youths in the area to shun violence, pipe line vandalism and give attention to education, peace building and entrepreneurship.
He said the beneficiaries of the programme in Edo state have demonstrated maturity and sense of responsibility in the manner they have conducted themselves, informing that he appointed their leader in Edo state, Robert Ekubo, as Executive Director on Waterways Security.
He drew the attention of Brig-Gen. Boroh to the programmes of the Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Edo and Delta State Commission (BRACED), established to drive the process of economic cooperation and integration among the south-south states.
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