A Niger Delta group, Ijaw Youths Network, has urged President Bola Tinubu to ignore distractive calls by self-styled stakeholders to scrap the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
The IYN said those calling for the scrapping of the PAP are uncomfortable with the story of peace and stability in the region and are not motivated by patriotism and genuine concern for the Niger Delta and, indeed, Nigeria.
In a statement signed by its president, Frank Ebikabo, and secretary, Federal Ebiaridor, the IYN said that the call being championed by ethnic chauvinists was designed to distract the new leadership of the PAP and does not deserve attention from serious minds.
The IYN was responding to comments made by Frank Tietie, on national television that the PAP was corrupt and that the agency had not achieved anything despite the money the federal government spent on it.
The group condemned the claim by Tietie that only one ethnic group was laying claim to the PAP, stressing that what the Niger Delta needs at this time is not the promotion of divisive ethnic sentiments and the use of same to attack a functional agency making impacts in the region but concerted efforts for development.
According to the IYN, the PAP has contributed immensely to the sustenance of prevailing peace in the oil-rich Niger Delta through its well-thought-out programmes.
The group noted that it cannot be contested that several ex-agitators and people from impacted communities are excelling in various sectors of the economy after receiving training under the PAP.
It further noted that several beneficiaries of the programme are gainfully employed as air traffic controllers, flight instructors, aircraft maintenance engineers, pilots, and underwater welders, among others, from the various states of the Niger Delta, saying but for the PAP, many of them would not have had the opportunity to acquire such high-level manpower training.
The IYN maintained that several others trained and empowered through PAP are doing well in diverse trade areas such as fashion design, unisex salon, fish farming, baking and confectionery, rice production, hairdressing, cement and building materials.
The group said: "While it is not our intention to bring the odious inter-ethnic wrangling in the Niger Delta to the fore at this point, we find it obligatory to condemn the reprehensible act of hiding under the toga of ethnicity to attack the PAP. What the Niger Delta and, indeed, the country needs at this point is unity and concerted efforts for development. As a region, we have suffered too much and cannot afford these antics that have held us down.
We listened to the desperate call by one Frank Tietie, a supposed Niger Delta activist who called for the scrapping of the PAP. Tietie told his interviewers that the Presidential Amnesty Programme has failed and must be discontinued, citing corruption in the agency. Even more regrettable was the fact that the supposed Niger Delta activist claimed only a set of ethnic nationalities had laid claims to the Presidential Amnesty Office."
It said Tietie claimed that the federal government had spent N500 billion on the Presidential Amnesty Programme and had yet to receive results. "We find it difficult to believe that a true activist will lament that the Federal Government spent N500 billion on the PAP! The self-styled stakeholder forgot to mention what the Federal Government has spent on the Ministry of Niger Delta and the Niger Delta Development Commission, and why the two bodies should be scrapped for corruption if that is the standard for the survival of agencies.
While we do not want to jump to accuse anybody of selective amnesia, we cannot forget in a hurry that, at the peak of the armed struggle before the proclamation of the Presidential Amnesty in 2009, those calling for the scrapping of the Programme tagged the ex-agitators and their Ijaw ethnic nationality as troublemakers. However, Nigerians from outside the region appreciated the fact that there was underdevelopment, pain, agony and frustration, which triggered deep resentments in the oil-producing areas."
Ebikabo and Ebiaridor stressed that the federal government did not declare selective, ethnic-based amnesty in the Niger Delta as shown by the facts.
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He insisted that it was plain mischief for anybody to attempt to mislead the country with the false narrative that the 30,000 ex-agitators listed under the programme are there on the platform of ethnicity.
Nigerians know that the Federal Government of Nigeria did not declare a selective amnesty for the ex-militants in the Niger Delta. The 30,000 ex-agitators captured under the programme are not enrolled because they speak a particular language. Tietie can ask his kinsman, General Lucky Aralile (RTD.), who was the pioneer head of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
Tietie might want to tell Nigerians, those whose communities were razed and whose children were killed during the days of heightened agitation for a better standard of living in the Niger Delta. To us, the self-proclaimed activist is clever by half when he makes unfortunate inferences that only one set of people are laying claim to PAP. We boldly ask if the federal government excluded any indigene of the region who embraced the Presidential Amnesty," he said.
