Politics
The Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, has assured Niger Delta Ex-agitators and their leaders prompt payment of monthly stipends and provision of other welfare packages.
Dokubo said this at a meeting with the second and third phase leaders of ex-agitators in the amnesty programme on Friday in Abuja with over 70 leaders of Niger Delta ex-agitators in attendance.
He noted that this was necessary for sustenance of the prevailing peace and security in the region to enhance development.
Dokubo also stressed that funds budgeted for the programme are meant for the training of its beneficiaries, and not to be diverted into private pockets.
“Today, I am meeting with you one on one. I will speak with every one of you and if you feel agitated by any step I have taken, please tell me.
“We are going to rectify things; we are going to have all the collective views of those who have gathered here,’’ he said.
While assuring on fairness and transparency in the discharge of his duties, he said funds meant for beneficiaries would be properly utilized.
“I will continue to operate an open door policy; I will give listening ear to leaders of ex-agitators. Let us run the amnesty programme in such a way that the bona fide beneficiaries get the benefit,’’ Dokubo added.
He urged leaders of ex-agitators not to promote parochial interests, but to work with the Federal Government in the interest of the Niger Delta people by striving to sustain the ideals of the programme.
Dokubo urged them to shun acts of economic sabotage, while noting that the objective of the programme was sustenance of peace, security and development in the Niger Delta.
He also stressed on the need for the establishment of solid projects in the Niger Delta to create jobs and economic empowerment for the people.
According to him, training and retraining of beneficiaries of the programme would be accorded priority and two projects under the programme would soon be commissioned in Bayelsa State.
“Let us do particular projects in the Niger Delta that will live after us; let us not go into pipeline busting, because these pipelines are located in our region where the environmental impact would be felt. But your complaints on issues of documentation and others will be looked into”, Dokubo assured.
Speaking on behalf of leaders of ex-agitators under phase three in the programme, Chairman of the forum, Julius Joseph, lauded Dokubo’s initiatives.
“I am very impressed; this is my second time of meeting with him. I enjoyed all your efforts, and I am appealing that you correct the errors of the previous managements of the programme,’’ Joseph said.
Earlier in his remark, ‘Gen. Asu Tambou, chairman of the Phase two forum of leaders of ex-agitators, expressed hope of an enduring peace in the Niger Delta region.
He said the meeting was a plan on which they freely aired their view and promised to support Dokubo as he strives to take the programme to greater height.
“ I’m going to support you in the area of verifying our database to know who had been trained or empowered and those that are left to make sure that this programme is a success,” Tambou said.(NAN)
