The Niger Delta Rights Assembly (NDRA) has described the appointment of Major-General Barry Ndiomu (Rtd) as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) as a blessing to the Niger Delta region and the nation in general.
The group thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for “overlooking primordial sentiments and self-serving lobbyists in his choice of Ndiomu” whom it said has brought “sanity and order into the Programme.”
The NDRA which comprises mainly youths drawn from across the Niger Delta states in a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday and signed by its president, Chief Israel Bokromo, also lauded Ndiomu for rising to the occasion of tackling the challenges facing the Amnesty Programme.
The statement reads inter alia: “We wish to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing a true Niger Delta son in retired Major-General Barry Tariye Ndiomu as Interim Administrator of Amnesty Programme.
“We recognize the pressure mounted on President Buhari to discontinue the Programme by persons who do not mean well for the nation and Niger Delta people in particular. The President did not only snub the lobbyists, he appointed Ndiomu, a man of proven military discipline and integrity.
“We wish to place on record that Ndiomu’s appointment is not misplaced. Since his arrival at the Amnesty office, he has allowed an audit of the Programme’s activities which has exposed several fraudulent activities. He brought a regime of reforms that has helped to block the leakages and conduits through which many criminal-minded persons have been profiting and stealing money meant for the genuine ex-militants,” the statement said.
NDRA commended the Buhari government for involving critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta in maintaining peace and ensuring security of oil and gas infrastructure as well as stemming the tide of stolen crude in the creeks.
“We note that the involvement of stakeholders like Mr. Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo) to secure oil and gas infrastructure in the creeks was a masterstroke that has significantly reduced the incidence of oil theft,” the statement said.
The group noted that the culture of probity, accountability and transparency instituted by Ndiomu is yielding anticipated results especially the exposure of monumental fraud bordering on flawed payment systems and contract inflation.
It listed some of the achievements recorded by Ndiomu to include earning the confidence and support of President Buhari, timely payment of monthly allocations, sustaining peace in the region leading to increased production of crude oil at an average of 1.67million barrels per day, new policy initiatives on cooperative, completion of 5 vocational training centres and data sanitization to verify genuine ex agitators, among others.
The group said that in barely six months, “Ndiomu has saved the Programme over N1.5 billion from inflated contracts and has effectively positioned the Programme towards achieving its core mandate of addressing the needs of ex-militants rather than meeting the needs of a few emergency contractors who lack both competence and capacity.”
The group urged the in-coming government to sustain the culture of probity and fiscal responsibility instituted by Ndiomu to stave off agitations in the future.
