Minister of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA), Umana Okon Umana, has advocated for closer ties with the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to ensure that the Ministry and the agency continue to work with various institutions to address the issue of oil theft, pipeline vandalisation and sustain peace in the region.
Umana made this assertion when the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Interim Administrator, Col Dixon Milland Dikio (Rtd), paid him a courtesy visit on Thursday, August 4, 2022, in Abuja.
The Minister commended the Amnesty boss for his strategic role in bringing combatants militants out and procuring peace and stability in the region, adding that he believes that he still has an important role to play to tackle the problem of oil theft in the region. He, therefore, called on all stakeholders to forge partnership in addressing, the burning issues confronting the Niger Delta region and to end those vices destroying our aquatic lives.
Umana further assured the Amnesty boss that effort is being made by the Federal Government to hand over the skill acquisition centre at Agadagba to the Ondo State Government, noting that the Centre would be of immense benefit to PAP and Nigeria at large.
Earlier in his address, Interim Administrator, PAP, Col Dixon Milland Dikio (Rtd), explained that the programme by former President, Late Musa Yar’adu, was a soft approach towards addressing issues affecting the Niger Delta region. It was designed to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate ex-agitators.
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He noted that the visit is to explore areas of support and assistance from the Ministry and establish vertical and horizontal relationships to ameliorate the problems of the region.
According to Col. Dikio, the programme as it relates to peace in the Niger Delta region is infrastructural development. “So, we believe that, if we are not in sink with what MNDA and NDDC are doing, we would just be doing a temporary fix, on our side we have decided that we would focus on our core functions which are manpower development.”
Speaking further, Dikio said, “building on the vision of PAP would require that we set up a committee of Chief Executives of the Ministry, NDDC, and PAP to regularly review with the stakeholders the challenges and progress made so far and plan on future development in the region.
“This would build a lot more synergy so that we would not be working at cross purpose but we will be on the same page in driving Federal Government message in the region.
“Our focus should be reorienting the younger age group from age 12 to build bridges and alliances, having a project plan of how to stem drift from pity crimes, gangsterism and militancy. There should be a transition of PAP from the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme to what we called Niger Delta Stabilisation Programme (NDSP),” he stated.
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Niger Delta Ministry seeks ties with amnesty programme to end pipeline vandalism
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