PAP responds to protest, promises to verify payroll fraud

Reacting to protest that greeted the delisting of 513 ex-militants, allegedly connected to multiple monthly payments, the new management of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has said it will conduct a verification of genuine beneficiaries, whose names were omitted from the payroll in the month of October and November. 

In a statement issued in Yenagoa, the Interim Administrator of PAP,  Maj.- Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd), said the decision of the body to pay stipends to all genuinely verified beneficiaries is aimed at repositioning the scheme for optimum performance.

Ndiomu stated that the details of the proposed verification exercises, which will take place at various locations in the Niger Delta region, would be announced in due course.

He said PAP is committed to highest standards of transparency and accountability in the interest of ex-agitators and stakeholders at large.

Recall that external and internal auditors contracted by the Amnesty Office recently uncovered payroll fraud in PAP, exposing an individual who was said to be receiving stipends of 33 persons through fraudulent means.