Former militants undergoing training in electric
power transformer repairs and maintenance under the Presidential Amnesty
Programme (PAP) have vowed to return to the creeks and unleash violence in the
Niger Delta unless their training allowances are paid.
The threat was issued on Monday as 200 trainees,
accompanied by scores of sympathetic ex-militants, marched from their training
camp at the Rivers State University to the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the
PAP at New GRA in protest against the non-payment of their allowances.
The protesters carried placards pleading with
President Muhammadu Buhari to order the payment of their allowances to enable
them complete their training or they would be forced to return to their former
trade in the creeks.
Some of the placards read: ‘President Buhari hear
our cry’; ‘Back to Class or Back to Creek, Prof Dokubo, choose for us;’; and ‘Presidential
Amnesty Fund for Transformers Repairs Training or We Return to the Creeks’.
Speaking to journalists on behalf of the
protesters, Biira Barida of the Osama Ex-Militants Camp said the training
billed to last for nine months has been stalled by the stoppage of their
N90,000 monthly allowance after just two months payments by the contractor in
charge over alleged non-remittance by the PAP office.
Barida said: “We resumed July 3, 2019, only to be asked to go home on
October 31 due to lack of funding and refusal to pay contractual obligations to
contractor/consultant of Electric Power Transformer Repairs and Maintenance Training.
“Most disappointing is the fact that power
distribution is a major challenge in Nigeria due to very limited skilled and
semi-skilled manpower in this technical-intensive area. The training was
envisioned to grow local capacity in transformer manufacturing and maintenance
to save millions of dollars on overseas training or technical support.”
He wondered “if N4.5billion could be expended on
procurement of items which were later looted, why can't Amnesty office pay for
this training that is so essential for national growth? Why do the government
and its agencies prefer violence to meaningful engagement?”
Among their demands, the protesters called on
“President Buhari to urgently intervene, and for PAP under Prof Charles Dokubo
to, within the next seven working days, commence payment for the training
classes to resume and enable us reintegrate fully into the society and take
care of ourselves and families.
“Failure to heed our peaceful advice to release
fund, we shall take this agitation to another level. The federal government and
the public should be informed that we are being forced to recall our former way
of life. So, we either go back to class or back to the creek”
Meanwhile, when contacted, Spokesman to Prof
Charles Dokubo, Coordinator of the PAP, Murphy Ganaga, said: “No comment!”
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