Pauline Onyibe,Yenagoa 
The Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) on Wednesday appealed to the interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd) to consider setting up a proper monitoring and evaluation structure to validate the progress of the beneficiaries, projects and programmes of PAP.
Speaking when the group paid a courtesy visit to Dikio in Abuja, National Chairman of PANDEF and former Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Emmanuel Essien, however, threw their weight behind all the reforms, especially the new vision of PAP’s Interim Administrator to transform the ex-agitators into entrepreneurs.
A statement signed on by Dikio’s Special Adviser on Media, Neotaobase Egbe, read that Essien commended Dikio’s new vision of transforming ex-agitators and beneficiaries of the programme into entrepreneurs and employable citizens.
He said to actualize the vision, Dikio introduced a new model of train, employ and mentor and the concept of constituting ex-agitators into cooperatives in the areas of maritime security, food security and maritime transport.
The statement continued: “The new approach will help the ex-agitators break away from the fetters of dependency and crime, adding that PANDEF was happy that the administrator recently engaged some beneficiaries into the workforce of PAP.”
In his response, Dikio harped on the need for partnership saying more positive results will be achieved if all stakeholders work as a team.
He said the conversation on the Niger Delta Recovery Plan must be broadened and that other aspects of the training must be explored, especially in the oil and gas sector, food and agriculture, maritime security and marine transport.
He also stressed that delegates needed to be strategically empowered with authentic certifications to enable them compete with counterparts in other parts of the country.
