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Chukwudi Akasike
THE Federal Government said it had
started the direct payment of three months arrears of stipends owed
former Niger Delta militants.
The Chief of Staff to the Office of the
Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator of the Presidential
Amnesty Programme, Col. Dedis Abel (retd.), who disclosed this on
Thursday, promised that the Federal Government would henceforth be
paying the former agitators directly.
Speaking during the inauguration of the
direct payment system in Port Harcourt, Abel said the era of paying
ex-militants their stipends through their leaders was gone.
He pointed out that the current step
taken by the government became necessary following reports of complicity
in the payment of stipends to the ex-fighters by their leaders.
Abel explained that some of the former
militants were paid as low as N20,000, as against the N65,000 monthly
stipend earmarked for each of them.
He said, “The Amnesty Office took the
decision to pay the ex-agitators directly, following reports of
complicity and short-changing of some of them by the leaders.
“Reports revealed that some of the
ex-agitators were paid as low as N20,000, out of N65,000 which does not
conform with the mandate of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
“Henceforth, payment of the monthly
stipends would be made directly to each beneficiary with focus to
eliminate cases of fraud and short-changing by their leaders.
“Similarly, this exercise will enable us
to collect biometrics of beneficiaries and to create Bank Verification
Numbers to enable government to make future payments through their
individual bank accounts.”
He added that the ongoing direct payment
was aimed at offsetting October, November and December arrears owed
over 2,000 ex-militants drawn from Rivers State.
Abel also disclosed that 13,000
ex-agitators out of the total 30,000 amnesty beneficiaries had received
formal education or vocational training in the past.
He added that the number of those who
benefitted from vocational training and formal education had increased
by 5,000 since Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd.) was appointed by President
Muhammadu Buhari to be the head of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
He said, “The 5,000 newly trained
beneficiaries were sent to both local and foreign institutions and
vocational centres to acquire knowledge and skills that would allow them
become self-reliant.
“About 12,000 ex-militants yet to
participate in the process will be trained in the coming months. We
thank Heritage Bank for its partnership and support of the Amnesty
Programme.”
However, there was tight security within
the Army Children Nursery and Primary School, Port Harcourt, venue of
the event, just as the former militants expressed happiness that they
would no longer be short-changed by their leaders as a result of the new
direct payment system.
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