Seventeen Ex-Militant Leaders Get #60 Billion – Presidential Panel
2 min readThe probe panel on the activities of the Presidential Amnesty Programme(PAP) ,has revealed that about 60 billion naira may have been paid to 17 ex-militant leaders over the past 10 years.
The report said, “It is imperative to note that there is no mechanism to enforce payment of the stipends to intended beneficiaries by their respective camp leaders and pay their stipends directly into their accounts.
“This mode of payment could have empowered the camp leaders with sufficient funds to acquire arms that can be used to hold the Federal Government to ransom in the event the programme is closed”.
The panel also noted that discovered that five vocation training centres were supposed to be built at a cost of N23billion, but that only three had been built.
According to the report, PAP had been corrupted with illegal removal and inclusion of names of beneficiaries of the programme
“There are beneficiaries being sponsored in foreign institutions which are not accredited and hence not recognised by Nigerian tertiary institutioms and the National Universities Commission.” The panel said.
The Federal Government had, in February, suspended the Coordinator of PAP, Prof. Charles Dokubo, and a five-man panel was set up to investigate the activities of the agency.
The panel is headed by the National Security Adviser (NSA), General Muhammed Monguno (retd).
The action followed allegations of fraud levelled against officials of PAP, dating back to when it was established 11 years ago.
The Yar’Adua administration had, in May 2009, established the Amnesty Programme to calm armed youths in the Niger Delta complaining of marginalisation in the face of their region’s producing the crude that provides the bulk of Nigeria’s foreign earnings.
But PAP has been dogged by all manner of allegations mostly bordering on misappropriation of funds.
On Abandoned Vocation Training Centres, the source said: “The Committee discovered that 5 vocation training centers were supposed to be built over the years for an estimated cost of N23 Billion for training of ex militants in various skills that will enable them to earn a living.
The training centers are located at Kaiama, Bayelsa State; Agadagba, Ondo State; Bomadi in Delta State, Gelegele in Edo State and Obuama, Harris Town, in Rivers State. The Committee discovered that in spite of these investments, only three of these centers at Kaiama, Agadabga and Bomadi have been built while those of Gelegele and Obuama are still at foundation level after the contractors absconded. Even the three that have been built, no single training has taken place in them hence, they are are underutilized and abandoned with government funds wasted”.
On payment of bulk stipends to militant leaders, he said: “The Committee discovered that some militant leaders still retain camps with paramilitary structure despite undergoing demobilisation process which is the formal and controlled discharge of active combatants from armed forces and groups.
