Niger Delta ex-agitators accept to work with Ndiomu’s PAP reform policy …Writes Open letter to NSA, Monguno

Niger Delta ex-agitators said they have accepted the transformation policy of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) Interim Administrator, Maj. Gen. Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retd).

The group disclosed this in an open letter to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno.

According to the letter, the group said it has “unanimously agreed to accept the well-intentioned, corrective and transformation policy of the amnesty Interim Administrator, Maj. Gen. Barry Tariye Ndiomu (Retd), which is aimed at repositioning the programme for better service delivery”.

They, however, appealed to the NSA for the replacement of the affected accounts details with a single BVN of the various camp/group members.

The interim administrator for the PAP, Ndiomu, had in November 2022, taken a bold step in what many described as an unpopular policy, to delist some ex-agitators from the programme’s database on the ground that the new Sheriff in town could not be seen to be condoning fraudulent practises perpetrated by some ex-agitators and their collaborators in the agency.

Ex-agitators reacted angrily to this move, and some critics of Ndiomu’s actions have since been accused of being behind recent protests against the administrator’s policies.

After much deliberation, the ex-agitators have finally agreed to Ndiomu’s policy.

The full letter reads: “Permit us to draw your attention to the current issue that has caused some of your patriotic critical stakeholders under the Presidential Amnesty Programme untold hardship for close to five months.

“The Amnesty programme was established to function based on solidarity of camps and groups of ex-agitators in the Niger Delta region; where every camp or group has a leader to whom slots were allotted in accordance with the number of arms or guns the leader or the group surrendered during the disarmament and also based on the personality and influence of such ex-agitators leader in the concerned Niger Delta community.

The ex-agitators emphasized that bulk payment to an individual leader, and that of a leader getting his guns benefits in multiple accounts payment methods were managed together to enable the leaders to disburse the benefits to their followers or boys on a hierarchy basis.

The letter further reads, “Sir, we also wish to bring to your notice that three payment methods were initiated and applied from the inception of the Programme. Even though the one beneficiary to a single payment is the acceptable method, bulk payment to an individual leader and that of a leader getting his guns to benefit in multiple accounts payment method was managed together to enable the leaders for disbursement to their followers or boys based on hierarchy.

“Although from the onset of the programme direct payment of stipends to the boys was applied but the other two methods became more fruitful because the direct method gave the boys an advantage over their leaders. The implication is that the boys refused to remit to their leaders as agreed ab initio, forgetting the fact that the camp leaders run an elaborate system of settlement within the camps beyond those directly enlisted as beneficiaries since the camp slots are not enough to go round to every member of the camp.

“Therefore it was purely the responsibility of a camp leader to use the available slots to manage his group. As those benefiting directly from PAP office continued to disappear, the remaining boys in the various camps started fighting their camp leaders and it got deadly to a point that even the Amnesty Office was not spared. Therefore, the only viable modality to solve the problem was to manage the available and workable method where the camp leader would still be in control of the disbursement so as to manage the boys in his camp and sustain peace in the region.

“This modality has helped stem the tide of violence across camps, to which any God-fearing person in the Amnesty office can testify. It is not at of place to bring to your notice that the bulk payment method is still very useful to date.

“Genuinely speaking, we were against the sudden reformative and corrective policy by the Interim Administrator Maj. Gen Barry Tariye Ndiomu (Retd) of a BVN to a single account but after extension consultation coupled with the trending transformational leadership style of President Mohammadu Buhari to move away from the old system of administration, and having in mind that most of the very successful security policies and others are based on your excellent advice and painstaking inputs to the overall success of such policies.

“We, from the foregoing and as patriotic Niger Delta youth who gave peace a chance through the well thought out amnesty deal, who are still undergoing reintegration or transformation have unanimously agreed to accept the well-intentioned, corrective and transformation policy of the amnesty Interim Administrator, Maj. Gen. Barry Tariye Ndiomu (Retd), which is aimed at repositioning the programme for better service delivery, hence the appeal for the replacement of the affected accounts details with single BVN of the various camp/group members.

“Sir, it is an indisputable fact that the Niger Delta ex-agitators under the presidential amnesty programme has always been peaceful, law-abiding and supportive to sustain the relative peace currently enjoyed in the region which we will continue to support you to do.

“Against this backdrop, it is our humble plea that you passionately reconcile these fundamentals associated with the Programme to direct General Ndiomu (Rtd) to approve the replacement of every affected multiple accounts with a single BVN of the leader linked.

“Please accept our highest regards for your highly esteemed office,” they added.

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