UTME now compulsory for scholarship beneficiaries, says amnesty programme coordinator

Milland Dikio, interim administrator of the presidential amnesty programme (PAP), says beneficiaries of the agency’s scholarship scheme must participate in the unified tertiary examination of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

This was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday by Nneotaobase Egbe, spokesman to Dikio.

He said the programme has transformed ex-agitators into well-educated entrepreneurs and employable citizens capable of contributing meaningfully to the economic prosperity of the Niger Delta region.

He, however, noted that the gradual decline in the quality of beneficiaries has made it imperative for the programme to be more purposeful about qualifications.

“The Presidential Amnesty Programme has said that it will not settle for mediocrity in its scholarship scheme, even as it continues with its mission to transform ex-agitators into well-educated entrepreneurs and employable citizens who can contribute meaningfully to the economic prosperity of the Niger Delta region and the nation at large,” the statement reads.

“To this end, the PAP came up with a new policy mandating every prospective scholarship candidate to take the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examinations (JAMB) as one of the criteria to qualify for PAP scholarship.

“The Interim Administrator, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd), appealed for calm from those opposing the JAMB policy, saying that it was not only vital for the personal, intellectual, and mental growth and development of the delegate; it was also crucial to the development and economic growth of the Niger Delta.

“He further explained that the PAP is focused on ensuring that beneficiaries of PAP scholarship are able to compete for placement in the best universities and primed to be major players in the knowledge-based world.”

He also said steps would be take taken by the agency to ensure that only deserving persons benefit from the scholarship programme.

“Evidence abounds that 80 percent of the current recipients of PAP scholarship are not ex-agitators. This is a major anomaly that must be corrected,” Dikio was quoted to have said.

“We have designed our deployment process to ensure that 70% of delegates for scholarship must be ex-agitators whose names are in our database, 20% will be from Niger Delta impacted communities, and 10% will be discretionary. Thus, those who cannot go to the university will be given vocational training.”