The Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dikio (rtd) has been awarded the Niger Delta Peace Ambassador by the Naija Live TV.
The Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, was also awarded the Man of the Year by the Bayelsa State-based online media outfit.
Naija Live TV organised the award and lecture in Yenagoa with theme, “The Role of Social Media in Strengthening Public Institutions in Nigeria”, to commemorate its fifth anniversary.
Dikio was given the award for promoting and sustaining the peace in the Niger Delta region through the Amnesty Office.
The organisers said Dikio, since his appointment, had stabilised the PAP, deploying it as a vehicle for peace and stability of the region.
They also observed that under Dikio, the amnesty programme was living up to its original mandate.
Delivering the lecture, an expert in public affairs, Dr. John Idumange, said Nigeria was faced with an irony of having abundant human and material resources but relegated to the backwaters of development.
He said most of the public institutions established to promote good governance had either been compromised or harassed by systemic instability.
He said: “We have not found answers to the problems of insecurity, inflation, devaluation of the currency and other social problems that contribute to undermine the development of the Nigerian states.
“As we inch towards 2030 – the target date of the Sustainable Development Goals one central tendency that comes to mind is the weak institutions, which cannot carry the weight of fundamental reforms we seek to embark upon as a nation.
“Way back in 2013, former President Jonathan expressed optimism that Nigerians have the capacity to transform the nation into a world class economy but prescribed the building of strong institutions as the antidote to her current socio-economic and political malaise.
“The truism is that in Nigeria, most reforms are either partially successful or monumental failures. This is largely attributable to the weak institutions, which lack the capacity to implement and sustain such reforms.
“Policy interventions and implementation mechanism are often vitiated by weak institutions. Weak institutions are at the root of low Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
“Genuine efforts at re-engineering the bureaucracy and government apparatus have only recorded minimal success.
“Now, social media platform can be deployed to play a role in strengthening the institutions for efficient and effective policy packaging and implementation”.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of Naija Live TV, Mr Saint Mienpamo, had said the outfit had gone through various challenges but had remained consistent with the support of some individuals and organisations.
He said: “Today Naija Live TV has a followership base of over two million persons in all of our channels. This of course is a result of our diligence, hard work, and consistency in service delivery over the past years and counting”.
Others, who received awards, were Senator Moses Cleopas, the lawmaker representing Bayelsa Central; Preye Oseke, the lawmaker representing Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency; a former Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon Monday Obolo Bubou; and chairman of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Kia Nigeria and Zeetin Engineering.

By: Akujobi Amadi