Amnesty programme lost focus from mandate

The Presidential Amnesty Programme has been restructured to tackle restiveness and unemployment in the Niger Delta and is empowering youths in the area with requisite skills, its Interim Administrator, Major-General Barry Ndiomu (retd.), has said.

He also solicited the partnership of the Nigerian Ports Authority for some of its programmes, especially the Deep Sea Diving School in Rivers State.

The PAP chief executive said in September 2022 when he took over, he redirected the vision of the organisation towards the initial concept of building the capacity of the teeming restive youths in the region because the programme had been drifting away from the core objectives.

A statement issued in Abuja on Friday by his Special Assistant on Media, Freston Akpor, said Ndiomu stated these during a courtesy call on the Managing Director of the NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, and other management teams in Lagos.

Ndiomu said he had to redirect the programme to its primary objective of boosting the capacity of youths in the Niger Delta.

He said, “When I took over in September 2022, I discovered that the programme had been drifting away from the core objectives of why it was established. I have to redirect the vision towards the initial concept, which is essentially to build the capacity of the teeming restive youths in the region. Like they say, ‘an idle mind is the devil's workshop'. When these boys are jobless, what do you expect from them? They engage in criminal activities, including pipeline vandalization, piracy and other activities which affect the economy.”

According to him, the PAP has five vocational centres, which were established with different specialisations such as in Agadagba in Ondo state aimed at training youths in oil and gas related activities and another in Bomadi, Delta state with the objectives of building capacity in energy related activities while the one in Rivers state is for deep sea diving training.

While lamenting that the centre in Boro town, Bayelsa State was vandalised after its completion, Ndiomu solicited technical support as well as long-term strategic collaboration in utilising one of the jetties of the NPA for the deep sea diving school in Rivers state.

Ndiomu said, “I want to solicit your support and assistance with a view to using one of your jetties in Rivers State which we can develop further together for the purpose of the deep sea diving school and other related marine training. This is one area we can get the youths to create sustainable livelihood.

“These boys are willing to learn. Many of them have been trained but sadly, they are unemployed. I don't think this is in the best interest of the country. We have been managing them by paying them the recommended monthly stipends, but it is not the right way to go because we are indirectly encouraging a culture of indolence and dependency.

“It is not something we should encourage in our youths, rather we should give them the opportunity to be self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to the economy.”

While commending Ndiomu for boosting the capacity of youths in the Niger Delta, Bello-Koko said the amnesty programme has helped in addressing unrest in the region.

He assured the PAP team of the willingness of the NPA to provide technical support and other assistance needed for the success of the deep sea diving school.

Bello-Koko said the NPA has improved activities in the ports in the region as a way of gainfully engaging the youths through the provision of jobs.

“For us in NPA, we have tried to improve activities of our ports in the region as a way of tackling restiveness because with these activities, jobs are created and the youths are engaged. We will work with you to give you all the support you need. We'll work with you to see any available jetty for the purpose you want to use it for. When it comes to deep sea diving and other marine-related training, we have experienced staff here that we can always send to you to offer training and advisories whenever the need arises.

“We have tried as much as possible to have a very good working relationship with the host communities in the Niger Delta. We have seen a reduction in restiveness because of what you have been doing as well as our engagement with the host communities. We also seek your support when you are engaging with the communities around the port locations; they need to realise that their action and inaction will determine how viable the ports are”, Bello-Koko said.