FG winds down Niger Delta amnesty programme in 2018

The Federal Government will in the next two years wind down the five-year old Nigeria Delta Amnesty Programme which has trained 17,322 beneficiaries and brought relative peace in that region, authorities said on Monday.

As at today, the programme which has the capacity for about 30,000 beneficiaries- with 17,322 of them trained, and a balance of 12,678 – ought to have ended since December last year but for lack of an exit strategy for beneficiaries to get properly re-integrated into the society.

Speaking at a session with the media  yesterday in Abuja, Paul Boroh, President Buhari’s Special Adviser on Nigeria Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, announced ongoing plans to exit up to 17, 322 beneficiaries this year, who have completed the Programme and are ready to be reabsorbed into larger society.

Boroh disclosed that the government would be able to save up to N5. 64 billion just in 2016 by allowing these beneficiaries leave the programme which he described as significantly expensive to  sustain, especially as the country tackles dwindling resources.

He said that this was the first time that the government was planning an exit programme for the amnesty beneficiaries and that his office has already set up a task force to work out and implement the exit strategy of the programme, with timelines that would ensure  that national security is not compromised.

“The aim is that this programme should not be endless.. the good thing now is that it has an exit strategy. We cannot be paying so much without knowing when we are going to stop,” Boroh, a retired General stated.

“There should be a point where we should stop, in order not allow for other regions to begin to demand the same. It is an extremely expensive programme. Not every country can afford it. However, no amount of time, effort, and resources spent on achieving peace is a waste,” he added.

Giving details of the strategy, Boroh said the Presidential Amnesty Programme would be exiting 3,232 beneficiaries who have been trained as entrepreneurs and have received business and set up/starter packs.

Also affected, according to him, are all beneficiaries of the Oil and Gas International Foundation (OGIF) Programme and the 400 who his office has secured employment for.

Boroh observed that by the end of this month, about  3,232 beneficiaries would leave, having gained from the entrepreneurship  programmes that they were engaged and will save for government N2,250,960,000 in stipend payments in 2016.

A second batch of 1,042 who are currently being given starter packs to establish their individual businesses are also soon to exited from the programme which would result in further savings of about N812, 760,000.

He explained that depending on budgetary allocation and release, the Amnesty office also plans to exit an additional 2,958 beneficiaries by the end of this year, which would amount to a N2,307,240,000 savings that would otherwise have been spent on stipend payments.

“This exercise is a significant step in the five-year Amnesty Programme which had never exited any of the 30,000 beneficiaries,” Boroh told the media, adding that, “it is also part of the exit strategies of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.”

Onyinye Nwachukwu