FUNDING THE AMNESTY PROGRAMME

KEN UGBECHIE writes that the recommendation by House Committee on Niger Delta Affairs for increased funding of the Presidential Amnesty Programme is critical for peace in the region

The House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Affairs led by its Chairman, Hon. Eugene Okechukwu Dibiagwu, visited the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Barry Tariye Ndiomu, a retired Major-General, recently. The meeting brought the committee face-to-face with the realities of the moment.

At the end, Dibiagwu explained that the essence of the visit was to interact with the Interim Administrator and his team on issues verging on the PAP mandate, mission and vision, policies, programmes, and projects as well as the impact of the Programme on the ex-agitators, the direct beneficiaries of the initiative launched by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2009.

Members of the committee were taken through the labyrinth of the Programme and its various activities which under Ndiomu has extended beyond payment of monthly stipend to ex-agitators to making professional masterminds, tech whizzes and entrepreneurs out of the once neglected ex-agitators. They are now critical stakeholders and active participants in the oil exploration, production and marketing value chain.

After the meeting, members of the Committee were unanimous on the following: That Ndiomu and his team have discharged their duties effectively with evidence of sustained peace in the once-upon-a-time volatile Niger Delta region; that Ndiomu deserves to be confirmed the substantive administrator having proven his mettle with sterling display of character and leadership in the management of one of the most challenging, yet critical, agencies in the nation’s wealth-creation mill; that Ndiomu has demonstrated good judgment and judicious deployment of scarce resources in meeting the Programme’s increasing obligations.

The Committee members acknowledged the straggling inflation and its effect on the static annual budget of the Programme. They, therefore, called for increased funding of PAP to enable it absorb the corrosive effect of inflation and the value-challenged naira. Increased funding will help PAP meet its many obligations which includes capacity-building of ex-agitators both at home and overseas, funding the cooperative scheme that has turned some ex-agitators into entrepreneurs and wealth-creators as well as sustain the skill-up initiatives at vocational training centres.

In his presentation, Ndiomu took the Reps through the contours and crevices of activities of PAP since he assumed office as chief executive in September 2022. Barely a year and six months in the saddle, Ndiomu has brought stability to what used to be an Amnesty Programme blighted by a chaotic mix of administrative tardiness and fiscal heist.

The General who has contributed immensely in building the respectable international clout ascribed to Nigerian military during his days in the battle grounds of Liberia in the era of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) is truly on duty. His imprint as Garrison Commander, Nigerian Army Headquarters; Chief of Training and Operations (CTOP), Army Headquarters; and study odyssey at the prestigious NIPSS, among other trainings at home and overseas has made him a rounded man for his present station. A very disciplined retired military top brass and lawyer, he has brought his calm and firm military persona to bear on the Programme, and by implication on the Niger Delta region. He did not only widen the frontiers of peace, he also deepened the well of active stakeholder engagement among the critical actors in the region.

This has come with some rewards for the nation. On account of the peace wrought in the oil-bearing region within the period he has been piloting the Programme, there has been a remarkable increase in the volume of crude oil produced by the nation. Going by statistics recently shared by the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, crude oil production rose from 1.22 million barrels per day (mbp/d) in Q2 of 2023 to 1.55mbp/d in Q4 of 2023. This was the period that Ndiomu was actively engaging the ex-agitators, giving them hope, equipping them with relevant skills and seed capital to start a new journey in entrepreneurship.

This rise in oil production is essentially because all is calm in the Niger Delta. With the renewed drive by the President Bola Tinubu government to revive dormant oil fields, net crude oil production output is expected to nose up this year, an expectation that will add more cash to the national till. Peace is critical in the Niger Delta for the economic survival of the nation. But birthing and sustaining such peace is expensive. Several voices including traditional rulers in oil-bearing communities, ex-agitators and their leaders, civil society organisations, some past leaders of PAP and sundry beneficiaries of the Programme have in times past advocated for increased funding of the Programme.

Ndiomu himself confirmed what these voices, including the House Committee members, have been saying when he declared that “the purse of the Programme is currently stretched to the limits due to forex challenges. This has made the cost of both local and foreign education and other training schemes highly exorbitant.”

If you factor that PAP is in partnership with 18 universities and maintains synergy with 61 non-partnering universities, then you will appreciate how much the Programme spends annually on education and capacity building alone. By last count, a total of 1,659 students’ beneficiaries under the PAP scholarship scheme have graduated from overseas universities. This is aside the more than 19,000 beneficiaries trained by the Programme in vocational skills.

Truly, peace is expensive but it is economical in the long run. The absence of peace is far more expensive because it leads to destruction and reduced productivity which translates to low income. For the government to meet OPEC quota for 2024, it must ensure pervasive peace in the Niger Delta region. It must ensure that the incidence of force majeure on account of violence or threat of it is stemmed significantly, if not completely eradicated. Achieving this will require more funding for PAP to meet the increasing demands and obligations.

In his early days at his duty post, Ndiomu raised the alarm on the existence of N41 billion debt linked to projects in vocational trainings and empowerment between 2017 and 2019 which he inherited. He also inherited another N14 billion debt from unpaid stipends to beneficiaries, an amount he has since offset.

Add to this basket of liabilities, vocational training centres in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Ondo states in various stages of completion. The Bayelsa centre at Boro Town-Kaiama which was the only one completed, equipped and ready for take-off was, unfortunately, broken into, vandalized and looted. This, alone, officials say would require about N8 to N10 billion to rehabilitate and re-equip.

The House Committee members are right. Nigeria needs sustained peace in the Niger Delta to keep the oil flowing. The safest and most reliable way to ensure such peace is to keep the ex-agitators engaged. And PAP has proven a smart vehicle for achieving this. The Programme, therefore, deserves more attention, especially funding, than it is currently getting. Having acquitted himself brilliantly, I concur with the House Committee that Ndiomu deserves to be confirmed as the substantive Administrator of the Programme, for even the Holy Writ says that ‘a labourer deserves his wages.’

Ugbechie, Publisher, Political Economist NG, writes from Lagos