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Don’t scrap Amnesty Programme, Ex-militants warn

Leader of ex-agitators, in Akwa Ibom State, and self-styled General Nico Sintei has warned that scrapping the Niger Delta Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) would force the beneficiaries to return to the creeks.

Sintei, who gave the warning Tuesday in Uyo, while reacting to the alleged plan to scrap the amnesty programme, explained that majority of the beneficiaries of the programme do not have any other source of income besides the N65,000 monthly allowance.
He stressed that any right thinking Nigerian that appreciates the peace, unity and progress of the country would not wish for the only laudable programme that solved the problem of militancy and attacks on oil installations in the region to be scrapped.
He wondered why the issue of the Niger Delta amnesty programme should be a cause for concern to the Nigeria government instead of focusing on how to put an end to the worsening security situation in the country.
His words: “The Federal government should not tamper with the Amnesty Programme if it really wants to continue to enjoy the oil production from the region. The programme is the only thing that has sustained the peace in the Niger Delta region, it helped to stop militancy and youth restiveness in the region, and attack on oil installations.
“And the only things the Niger Delta ex-agitators have  benefitted from the programme is the N65,000 PAP monthly allowance. Also some of us were sent to school, some have been trained in various skills. Is that too much?
“Why is that the paltry N65,000 allowance few youths from the  region that lays the golden egg are receiving from the programme has become a problem? And as far as I am concerned It was the best thing that late President Yar’Adua did for Nigeria. Other solutions failed but PAP worked.”
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