Funding Of The Amnesty Progamme

The Amnesty Programme of the Federal
Government established five years
ago for Niger Delta ex-militants appears to be suffering from lack of funds, if recent statement by the programme’s Head of Re-Integration, office of the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Larry Pepple is anything to go by.
Mr Pepple was recently quoted to have said that the progamme is currently starved of funds; a statement that may have been made out of desperation because as a staff of the Presidency, it should not be the brief of Pepple to cry out over the funding of the programme.
Pepple who lamented that in 2012 and 2013, the agency had issues with delayed payment of allowances to beneficiaries said that the situation became worse in 2014 as there has been poor budgetary release of funds, thereby posing very serious challenges to the body.
The Tide is, indeed worried by the situation painted by Mr Pepple  who however failed to give the side of the government on this rather sensitive matter. There is the need to see answers for the failure by the Finance Ministry to release funds that have been appropriately appropriated by the National Assembly.
Even so, The Tide thinks that if the programme was actually facing poor funding, the Federal Government needs to be reminded to have a re-think not only because of its security implication but also for the economic well-being of Nigeria, its image and the safety of lives and property in the Niger Delta.
We hope and very strongly too that the Federal Government is not looking at the prevailing relative peace in the Niger Delta region  as a reason to relax. This is more so, when all the youth that volunteered for peace by giving up their arms have not been empowered by the Amnesty programme.
It will be unthinkable to believe that the Federal Government could be overwhelmed by the security situation at the North Eastern part of the country. Seriously, any attempt to focus all attention on terrorism and insurgency in the North alone can become a very serious oversight on the part of this administration.
Going by the information reeled out by the Amnesty office, 300,000 persons gave up arms and embraced the amnesty programme proclaimed by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, which was inherited by President Goodluck Jonathan. The programme actually brought the crisis that bedeviled the Niger Delta in 2009 under control.
It is rather worrisome that five years after, 12,000 persons are still waiting to be attended to. According to official sources, more than 14,000 ex-militants have been trained in formal education and skills covering various disciplines. Of course, the failure to cover the remaining 12,000 may not be unconnected with the funding challenges.
While we appreciate the fact that there may be shortfall in revenue accruing to the Federal coffers, we expect that government would also weigh the consequences, especially, given the level of understanding of the boys and use its good offices to fund the programme properly. This should be considered because of the critical and volatile nature of the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
In the same vein, The Tide expects the Niger Delta youth to understand that the nation is witnessing a season of dwindling economy and a rise on the demand on the lean finances that even States, Local Government councils and other government agencies also complain about.
On its part, the Federal Government should keep its pact with the Niger Delta people by properly funding the programme so as to avoid another round of sabotage and violence that characterised the area a couple of years ago.
In fact, Nigeria will never ever want to witness another era of Niger Delta militancy when a lot of lives, including those of foreigners were lost, while millions of dollars worth of petroleum went up in flames while the environment was totally compromised.
We also expect that efforts should be made to ensure that accountability and transparency rule the activities and operations of the Amnesty office as the programme cannot be an endless intervention.