Pic.20. Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, retired Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, speaking during his visit to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday (23/8/17).
04481/23/8/17/Johnson Udeani/JAU/NAN
The house of representatives has resolved to conduct a “comprehensive” probe of the presidential amnesty programme over alleged mismanagement of funds.
The resolution was sequel to a motion introduced during plenary on Wednesday by Abubakar Adamu, a lawmaker from Niger state.
The development comes about a week after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered an investigation of the amnesty programme under Peter Boroh, its recently sacked coordinator.
Speaking at plenary, Adamu said the amnesty programme has been bedevilled with allegations of “corruption and ineptitude since its inception”.
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He said the amnesty office has had a budget “ranging between N60 billion to N70 billion which has been shrouded in secrecy” in terms of achieving its mandate.
Adamu said there have been cases of alleged diversion of funds meant for the payment of tuition fees, stipends and allowances of ex-Niger Delta agitators.
“The presidential amnesty programme has been enmeshed in several allegations of financial impropriety and other alleged acts detrimental to the objectives of the programme,” he said.
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“The ex-agitators in the Niger Delta are always at the receiving end of the alleged mismanagement.”
The house mandated its committee on Nigeria Delta ministry to also assess the impact of the programme on ex-agitators in the Niger Delta.
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