Ex IYC President Appeals To FG Not To Scrap Amnesty Programme In 2016

Dr Chris Ekiyor, former President, Ijaw Youth Council, has appealed to the Federal Government not to scrap the amnesty programme in 2016.

 

 

Ekiyor told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Port Harcourt that the action could “lure the ex-militants into temptation.’’

 

 

He urged the government to take a holistic view of what the programme had achieved since its inception and what could happen if it was scrapped.

 

 

“If the federal government says it has successfully implemented the amnesty programme, how has it impacted on the beneficiaries?

 

“Is it by the monthly stipends they receive?

 

“Out of the 30,000 ex-militants pencilled for training by the federal government, less than 15,000 have been trained; is the government going to abandon the remaining 15,000?

 

“The initial design of the programme was to empower the beneficiaries and make them economically viable,” he said.

 

Ekiyor said that some of the beneficiaries, who were still undergoing training at home and abroad, would be abandoned in their various institutions if the government stops funding the programme.

 

He urged the government to take urgent measures to keep the ex-militants busy instead of scrapping the programme.

 

 

He said that though the programme was expensive, the inherent security crises that might likely accompany its scrapping could be costlier than the cost of the programme.

 

“The peace being enjoyed in the Niger Delta by former President Musa Yar’adua’s amnesty programme is unprecedented.

 

“It is only when the region is at peace that the multinational oil companies can operate.

 

“As much as I believe that the programme will end some day, it should not end abruptly in the interest of peace,” Ekiyor said.

 

 

(NAN)

MEND Says Ijaws Youths’ Empty Threat Won’t Stop Their Support For GMB

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has restated its stand that President Goodluck Jonathan should be voted out of Aso Rock next month.

The group has been under fire since it publicly declared its support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) few days back.

MEND asked Nigerians to discard the ‘empty noise’ by the Ijaw Youth Council, the Peoples Democratic Party and other ex-militants in the Niger Delta region over its support for the candidature of the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari.

In a release issued on Thursday, MEND’s Spokesperson “Jomo Gbomo” described the statement credited to the Peoples Democratic Party Spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, as “callous and irresponsible”.

Credit: dailypost.ng