The newly appointed Interim administrator of the presidential amnesty programme (PAP), Major-Gen. Barry Ndiomu has stated that the agency has lost its original focus.
Ndiomu had paid a courtesy visit to His Royal Majesty, Oboro-Gbaraun II, Aketekpe, Agadagba, Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom at his palace in Oporoza town, Delta state where he made the disclosure.
During the visit on Wednesday, Ndiomu held that PAP has completely derailed from its focus as non-Niger Deltans now get scholarships from the scheme if they can bribe their way into it.
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He said:
“As I speak to you, there are many people who are not even Niger Deltans that have been awarded scholarships. There are instances where people who are not Niger Deltans bribed with N750,000, N1m to get PAP’s scholarships. We cannot continue to allow this to happen.
“It is for this reason that the government is saying that this programme has lost its focus. That is the reason I am having consultations with the people of Niger Delta so that we sit down and tell ourselves the truth.”
According to Ndiomu, if the scheme is working as was intended by the government, a lot of the complaints by the youths will not be so as the resources which the government has directed to the scheme will get to them.
He also stated that he and his team came to visit High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo, but it is improper to go see Tompolo without coming to pay homage to the king.
Ndiomu said:
“We came to meet with Tompolo, but it is a taboo to come into your kingdom and walk past your palace. Due to the respect we have for traditional institutions, we felt it is proper to pay our respect.
“So your royal majesty, this is just a mere courtesy visit. We will still formalize the visit in the very near future.”
Ndiomu assured the monarch of revisiting the palace and having a joint stakeholders meeting where the palace will be able to inject its input.
He said:
“I want to assure his royal majesty that I will come back in a few weeks because we are returning again for a proper stakeholder’s meeting where there will be contributions from the palace and a robust articulation.”
The Royal Majesty, Oboro-Gbaraun II, Aketekpe (Agadagba) of Gbaramatu Kingdom hence congratulated Ndiomu on his appointment and charged him to do everything within his powers to put the scheme back to its initial aim and objective.
Ndiomu thereafter had a closed-door meeting with Tompolo, the former leader of the defunct Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND).
