IJAW youths under the auspices of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) have called on the Federal Government to approve more funds for the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to enable it perform optimally for sustainable peace of the Niger Delta.
The IYC President, Jonathan Lokpobiri, made the comment while speaking with journalists shortly after he led a delegation of the council on a courtesy visit to the Administrator of PAP, Dr Dennis Otuaro in Abuja.
A statement signed by the spokesperson for the IYC, Princewill Binebai and made available to newsmen on Wednesday, quoted Lokpobiri as stating that the scope of the PAP was expanding and should no longer be run with its current budget which had remained the same for many years.
The umbrella body of Ijaw youths noted that the programme still had a lot to do to ensure continued stabilisation of the region. The group also argued that the present economic realities in Nigeria and emerging challenges in the region have made it even more compelling for more funds to be appropriated for the programme.
The council said it discovered after a careful assessment of the programme that the dollar was exchanging for N120 when PAP started, adding that there were sufficient justifiable reasons for the government to consider strengthening the programme with additional funds.
The Ijaw youths appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the Ministers of Budget and Finance as well as the leadership of the National Assembly to see the need to make more funds available for the programme.
“Today, this same programme is still being run with the same budgetary provision of N65 billion for a whole year. Currently, the dollar is exchanging for N1,700 and the funding of the programme has remained stagnant while the needs of the programme are expanding.
“There is so much that is expected from this programme because if the Niger Delta fails, Nigeria will pay more. The PAP is at the driver’s seat of sustaining peace in the Niger Delta. So the need to expand this programme to accommodate more people is very important at this point in time.”
The statement quoted Otuaro as having reiterated his commitment to serve the people of the Niger Delta wholeheartedly as he knew the task ahead of him upon his appointment.
He said the PAP was at the reintegration phase which he described as critical in the implementation of the programme’s objectives, adding that his leadership understood the vital roles of stakeholders towards the sustainable peace, security and stability of the region.
