Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Hon Kingsley Kuku, has said there was no going back on the 2015 terminal date of the amnesty programme for former agitators in the Niger Delta.
He emphasized that failure to draw the curtain on the programme could bring about instability in the region and that it is currently grappling with exit strategy challenges that were not envisaged when the Presidential Amnesty Proclamation was made in 2009.
Kuku, who stated this yesterday while speaking as a guest lecturer at the 7th Business Law Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association Section on Business Law in Lagos, also implored governors in the Niger Delta states to initiate youth engagement programmes that will create opportunity for empowerment for the ex-agitators in their respective states.
He noted that inability to secure jobs for the ex-agitators that have been trained in many technical areas related to oil and gas portends more danger for the region, as the youths may be tempted to eke out a living from activities that are not authorised.
Kuku noted that the gains of the programme could be eroded if government fails to close the programme by 2015 because of fresh agitations for enlistment by youths of the region, who now see militancy as a way of accessing public funds.
He said it would better to train people who seek empowerment rather than just distributing money to youths who do not add value to economic activities.
Kuku equally canvassed equity in the stipends paid to ex-agitators in training in various tertiary institutions, as opposed to those who collect monthly stipend that are awaiting to be sent for training.
He canvassed a reduction of the N65,000 paid to beneficiaries in training to the statutory N18,000 pegged as minimum wage, such that those who are undergoing training do not earn far more than those awaiting training, who earn N65,000 as monthly stipend.
"It will be in the best interest of Nigeria for government to terminate the presidential amnesty programme by 2015. If it is not closed by 2015, it will lose its taste. This is because it will become an alternative government in the Niger Delta region.
"We are currently battling exit strategy challenges. If we reduce the monthly stipend to those in training to the prescribed minimum wage for the country, which is N18,000, it would discourage more people to take to militancy.
"We should have stopped paying N65,000 after pulling the agitators from the creeks and fixing it at the minimum wage could have been ideal," he canvassed.
The PAP chairman explained that the programme had key challenges bordering on post-training expectations, which are becoming very critical.
"To avoid further crisis, the programme should end in 2015. We must be ready to exit the programme.
It is for this reason that governors of the region must support alternative programmes for youth engagement."
He said the monies to be saved from reduction in the payment of allowances could be deployed into infrastructure development programmes that would generate more jobs for youths of the region.
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