Amnesty Office Justifies N88m Barbing Salon Contract 

The Amnesty Office has maintained that it breached no public procurement law in the award of N88 million contract for the empowerment of 22 Niger Delta youths in barbing and beauty salon business under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

The contract awarded to Messrs Tovo Vicks Nigeria Enterprises Limited, it said, was in line with its mandate of providing human capital development and skills acquisition for beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme towards deepening peace and stability in the Niger Delta.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mr. Murphy Ganagana, the Special Assistant (Media) to the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, said that the N88 million contract sum for 22 beneficiaries was based on a business set-up template of N4 million per beneficiary.

He explained that the cost includes provision of refresher/entrepreneurial training course to prepare beneficiaries for effective management of their businesses; land acquisition or shop rent for use by the beneficiaries, business name registration, tax papers, account opening and branding; provision of mentorship/monitoring and evaluation for three months after successful setup process for beneficiaries, and comprehensive documentation of empowered beneficiaries.

“We wish to state that the contract was awarded in line with due process and the company, Tovo Vicks Nigeria Ent. Limited is duly registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, with RC 1150012.

“Therefore, Prof. Dokubo did no wrong by awarding the contract in furtherance of the mandate of the Presidential Amnesty Programme. However, it should be noted that implementation of the contract is yet to commence.

“This clarification has become necessary in view of the post of a bromide of the contract award letter in the social media by mischief makers, thereby causing opprobrious remarks from undiscerning members of the public.

“Prof. Charles Dokubo will not be distracted by the antics of enemies of progress whose aggression to grab contracts at the Amnesty Programme and pocket funds meant for the training and empowerment of beneficiaries of the programme has been effectively checkmated. It is no longer business as usual,” the statement said.