PAP seeks collaboration with federal ministries, others for N’Delta development

Ini Billie, Uyo

The Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dikio (rtd), is seeking partnership with Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to collaborate with PAP for the overall development of the Niger Delta region.

Dikio, who said synergising with other Niger Delta-related ministries and agencies would facilitate the development of the region, added that PAP was only one of the approaches designed to tackle the problems in the region.

Speaking on Thursday, Dikio who said this through his Special Adviser, Media, Nneotaobase Egbe, during his visit to Commander 2 Brigade, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, noted that petroleum assets redistribution enabled by the passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Ministry of Environment and PAP had complementary mandates to develop the region.

“The amnesty programme happens to be one leg, there is a leg on petroleum assets redistribution; the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is the vehicle for ensuring that and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the NDDC whose mandate is to take care of the agitations or grievances about lack of physical development in the Niger Delta and of course, the Ministry of Environment, whose mandate is to address the issues of environmental degradation,” he said.

Dikio explained that the late President Musa Yar’adua embraced the concept of soft power by establishing PAP as an alternative to the use of kinetic power in resolving issues, adding that his office was saddled with the responsibility of managing the process.

He said the amnesty office was doing everything possible to make former agitators understand the importance of adopting alternative ways of expressing their grievances.

He stated that while in Akwa Ibom State, he visited some facilities where former agitators could be trained, employed, and mentored by such organisations.

He said, “We provide the soft approach of administering these ex-agitators and teaching them alternative ways of expressing their misgivings. This we intend to do through our train-employ- mentor (TEM) scheme.

“While in Akwa Ibom State, we visited some facilities with the intention that PAP will pay for the training of these beneficiaries, they will then be employed by these organizations till they know the craft and then be mentored so that they can stand on their own and then be employers of labour.”

He thanked the Army commander for his warm reception and promised to keep partnering with security agencies to make the region safe.

In his remarks, the Commander 2 Brigade, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Brig-Gen. MN Inuwa, commended Dikio’s approach and his deployment of soft power, adding that it had helped reduce violent agitations in the region.

Inuwa said that Dikio’s reforms and policies were helpful to the region, adding that ‘the combination PAP is adopting the solution.’