The Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major-General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retired), on Friday bagged a double award for his visionary leadership of the Programme since assumption of office.
The two awards were those of Excellence for Legacy Projects and the Eagle award for his visionary leadership and administrative competence.
The awards were presented by the Strategic Communication Committee (STRATCOM), a body comprising leaders of ex-agitators drawn from Phases one, two and three which interfaces between the Amnesty office and delegates in the PAP Conference Room, Abuja.
In his acceptance speech, General Ndiomu dedicated both awards to President Mohammadu Buhari and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno (retired) and ex-agitators of the Niger Delta region, for whose benefits and progress he administers the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
He expressed appreciation to members of STRATCOM for the high sense of maturity and patience exhibited as well as having faith in his administration’s ability to change the fortunes of ex-agitators.
The Interim Administrator contended that “if the current policy initiatives were introduced at the inception of the PAP, delegates would have been weaned off the sixty-five thousand naira stipends and progressed to being self-sustaining.
“The NSA has given his endorsement for the legacy projects particularly the cooperative society which is being processed for registration with funds already set aside for take off.”
General Ndiomu noted that debts from the arbitrary scholarship award, obligation to contractors, monthly stipend payments, which has been scaled down to an extent and other running costs were still overwhelming burden on the finances of the Programme.
“We will engage some members of the diplomatic community and relevant donor as well as development agencies for their buy-in to enhance the sustainability of the legacy projects to drive the socio economic process in the Niger Delta,” he further announced.
The Interim Administrator expressed gratitude for the double awards and adviced that the entitlement mentality culture among some persons and the atmosphere of violence need to change for healthy competition and economic development.
Earlier Nature Dumale-Kieghe, Chairman of STRATCOM explained that the awards were in identifying with the Interim Administrator’s strides in six months, a period marking the laying of an economic recovery process for the Niger Delta through the legacy projects.
Dumale-Kieghe decried the entitlement mentality culture by some ex-agitators and noted that the policy initiatives introduced by General Ndiomu were to transform delegates from being dependent on the monthly stipends to proud entrepreneurs and employers of labour.
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