FG pays ex-militants 3 months arrears owed them

The chief of staff of the Special Adviser to the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Colonel Dedis Abel (Rtd), has announced the commencement of payment of stipends to ex-militants in the Niger-Delta region.

He also said the payments (N65,000) will be made directly to the militants this time, adding that there were reports that the boys were being short changed by their leaders.

Abel said “The Amnesty Office took the decision to pay the ex-agitators directly following reports of complicity and short-changing of some of them by the leaders. Reports revealed that some of the ex-agitators were paid as low as N20,000 out of the N65,000 which does not conform with the mandate of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

“Henceforth, payment of the monthly stipend would be made directly to each beneficiary with focus to eliminate cases of fraud and short-changing by their leaders. Similarly, this exercise will enable us to collect biometrics of beneficiaries and to create Bank Verification Numbers to enable government to make future payments through their individual bank accounts.”

He also said “However, the number of those trained increased by 5,000 since Retired Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to head the Presidential Amnesty Programme five months ago. The 5,000 newly trained beneficiaries were sent to both local and foreign institutions and vocational centres to acquire knowledge and skills that would allow them become self-reliant.”

You will recall that the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, promised to empower 1,224 trained amnesty beneficiaries to enable them to fully integrate in the society, in December 2015.