Amnesty: FG Begins Direct Stipend Payment To Ex-Militants

Representative of Rivers State Governor and Commissioner for Housing, Barr Emma Okah (left), being welcomed by the President of MOSOP), Mr Legbosi Saro Pyagbara and his wife Joy, during the Ogoni Day celebration in Bori on Monday

The Federal Government said yesterday that it had begun payment of three months arrears owed to about 2,000 Niger Delta ex-agitators in Rivers State.
The Chief of Staff to the Office of the Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Rtd. Col. Dedis Abel made this known at the launch of the direct payment in Port Harcourt.
He said government would henceforth make direct payment of the N65,000 monthly stipend paid to the former agitators rather than making such payment through their leaders and proxies.
He added that “the Amnesty Office took the decision to pay the ex-agitators directly following reports of complicity and short-changing of some of them by the leaders.
“Reports revealed that some of the ex-agitators were paid as low as N20,000 out of the N65,000 which does not conform with the mandate of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
“Henceforth, payment of the monthly stipend would be made directly to each beneficiary with focus to eliminate cases of fraud and short-changing by their leaders.
“Similarly, this exercise will enable us to collect biometrics of beneficiaries and to create Bank Verification Numbers to enable government to make future payments through their individual bank accounts.’’
Abel said the week-long direct payment was to off-set the October, November and December arrears owed to more than 2,000 former agitators, drawn from several ex-agitators’ camps in the state and environ.
The chief of staff said that out of the 30,000 beneficiaries under the Amnesty Programme, only 13,000 had received either formal education or vocational training before the present team came onboard.
“However, the number of those trained increased by 5,000 since Retired Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to head the Presidential Amnesty Programme five months ago.
“The 5,000 newly trained beneficiaries were sent to both local and foreign institutions and vocational centres to acquire knowledge and skills that would allow them become self-reliant,” he said.
Abel said that the remaining 12,000 ex-agitators yet to participate in the process would be trained in the coming months.
Some beneficiaries who spoke to newsmen expressed delight and commended the PAP for the direct payment and transparency in the process.
The former agitators, numbering in their thousands and chanting songs of praise and victory, expressed optimism that the direct payment would end their being short-changed by their leaders.
Our Correspondent reports that security was tight as the area for the exercise was barricaded by the Army; Department of State Security and the Police to enable a hitch-free exercise.
The payment was held at the Army Children Nursery and Primary school playground at the Government Reserved Area in Port Harcourt.