News
PAP Probes 3,000 Accounts, Stops 400 Fake Contractors’ Payment
The Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dixion Dikio (rtd), discovered in his first year in office that the amnesty payroll was padded with 400 duplicated names, it was learnt, yesterday.
In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to Dikio, Neotaobase Egbe, the discovery was said to have led to deeper investigations into the authenticity of over 3,000 accounts receiving the N65,000 monthly stipends.
He said a preliminary probe revealed that some of the accounts were fake and fraudulently used to siphon funds meant for original ex-agitators.
“Immediately the investigation was ordered, the amnesty office stopped the stipends of the accounts undergoing probe. It is the right to do.
“I can tell you that some of the accounts had been cleared and their owners will receive their stipends. But there will be deeper probe to discover the identities of persons receiving monies through identified fake accounts,” he said.
He said Dikio was determined to cleanse the system to ensure that amnesty’s resources were expended on real and verifiable ex-agitators and not on impostors.
The statement said some angry contractors were funding propaganda against Dikio because the amnesty boss resisted pressure they mounted on him to pay them for jobs not done.
“Investigations revealed that contractors within PAP office were not delivering their jobs in accordance with their terms of contracts.
“These contractors want to be paid for laptops that were not supplied and others who supplied, delivered counterfeit products,” he said.
The statement insisted that Dikio was determined to cleanse the system and no amount of propaganda would stop him from carrying out his reforms.
Some ex-agitators also corroborated the development, describing persons behind blackmails against Dikio as disgruntled impersonators, who were hitherto syphoning the monthly stipends of the original beneficiaries of the programme.
They said those opposed were behind the padding of the amnesty payroll with duplicated names recently discovered in a probe ordered by Dikio to sanitise the system.
One of the ex-agitators, Magada Victor, a prominent member of the formerly dreaded Camp Five owned by Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, gave an insight into the identities of persons waging war against Dikio.
Victor said the names of some the original beneficiaries of PAP were short-changed in 2009, and stipends had since been hijacked to the accounts of non-beneficiaries of the programme.
He recalled that Dikio promised to investigate the allegations of fraud in PAP when he interacted with ex-agitators during his visits to the region.
Victor said, “Everybody in the Niger Delta is talking about the good work of this current administration, they are doing the right thing and I truly hope that this administration will last.
“Presidential amnesty under the leadership of Dikio is one of the best so far and we are ready to defend this administration. If Dikio continues this good work, there will be no further protests in the region.”
He said, “Tompolo was the last person to surrender to the amnesty programme in 2009. When we surrendered and disarmed, a list of those who surrendered were compiled and computed into the system. At the point where we surrendered, the place was crowded. People jumped in from the fence and used our names to thumbprint.
“We the original beneficiaries when we got to the point of biometrics, they told us we had already registered. People impersonated us and registered with our names. We were surprised and refused to go without being registered.
“The navy was beating us in the course of trying to control the crowd. These people that were not even involved in the struggle came and hijacked our names. Since then, they have been on the run because we have been trying to trace them.
“I am not the only one, whose stipends have been hijacked. We are many that have suffered this same fate. There are over 15 people or more in my group. Those that have been syphoning the money of our people are currently staging the protest against Dikio’s administration.
“We will continue to fight for this administration because it is doing good work. These enemies of PAP have become desperate and are now spreading falsehood against the programme”.
By: Amadi Akujobi
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.