Nine PAP beneficiaries bag master’s degrees overseas
The House of Representatives has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro, directing him to appear before its Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, to answer audit queries involving over N26 billion.
The committee, at its proceedings yesterday, warned that failure to honour the invitation will force the House to issue a warrant for his arrest to compel his appearance.
The ultimatum comes after Otuaro reportedly ignored six consecutive invitations sent to him by the committee. His repeated absence triggered outrage during yesterday’s public hearing, prompting Dominic Okafor to move a motion for a warrant of arrest.
The motion was seconded by Aliyu Bappa Missau and unanimously supported by committee members.
According to details from the Auditor-General’s report currently under scrutiny, the Presidential Amnesty Programme is alleged to have committed several serious financial breaches.
These include violating the Federal Government’s e-payment policy on expenditures totalling N17.6 billion; Paying N3.6 billion without internal audit checks; Disbursing N1.5 billion for tuition fees without supporting documents; Circumventing procurement processes; Issuing cash advances above approved financial thresholds amounting to N1.2 billion, and other discrepancies suggesting systemic financial misconduct.
The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bamidele Salam, declared that the PAP Coordinator’s appearance on Tuesday is non-negotiable. He stressed that Otuaro must show up with other principal officers of the Programme to fully address and defend the audit observations.
“The committee will not tolerate further disregard for parliamentary authority,” Salam warned. “This is a constitutional oversight function, and the Coordinator must appear to provide clarifications on the audit queries.”
The PAP, created in 2009 to rehabilitate and reintegrate former Niger Delta militants, has faced periodic scrutiny over its financial management. The ongoing investigation is part of a broader effort by the National Assembly to enforce accountability in federal agencies that handle large intervention funds.
Meanwhile, nine students awarded foreign post-graduate scholarships by the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) have graduated from their master’s degree programmes in universities in the United Kingdom (UK).
The successful scholars are the first graduates in the offshore post-graduate scholarship deployment to UK institutions by the PAP Administrator, Dr Dennis Otuaro, for the 2024-2025 academic session.
They graduated from Anglia Ruskin University, the University of Dundee, and the University of Law with master’s degrees in cybersecurity, data science and engineering, law, construction and civil engineering management, project management, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Also, 711 undergraduate and post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries are expected to graduate from universities within Nigeria this year.
PAP organised a graduation reception for the scholars in London on Wednesday, December 3, 2025.
Otuaro has congratulated them on their successful graduation, stressing that they completed their programmes in record time, which shows the seriousness they had put into their studies.
He said they have justified the Federal Government’s investment in their education through their successful graduation and urged other beneficiaries not to be distracted from their academic pursuits.
