Mkpoikana Udoma 07 May 2015, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt – The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has described as reckless the call by Boko Haram negotiator and Senate-elect from Kaduna State, Comrade Shehu Sani for the scrapping of the presidential amnesty programme for ex-Niger Delta agitators on the basis that it is now a drain on the nation’s resources.
Ijaw Youth Council also said the call was provocative and another conspiracy against the Niger-Delta people.
The IYC in a statement by its Spokesman, Comrade Eric Omare said It is not true as alleged by Shehu Sani that the amnesty programme is a continuous drain on the nation’s resources and only benefits a particular ethnic group.
The group also said it is nauseating for Shehu Sani to assert that the amnesty programme is a drain on the nation’s resources since the programme is bankrolled with oil money generated from the Niger-Delta.
According to the statement, “The amnesty programme is an initiative of the federal government designed for ex-Niger Delta agitators who agreed to surrender their arms and were documented in 2009.”
“The programme involves different phases with the re-integration phase as the last phase.
“It is not the fault of the beneficiaries of the amnesty programme that the re-integration phase which involves training and provision of jobs has not been completed. It is because of budgetary constraints on the side of the federal government.
“In any case, it is absurd and nauseating for Comrade Sani to assert that the amnesty programme is a drain on the nation’s resources. The amnesty programme is not being sponsored with groundnut pyramid money from Shehu Sani’s Kaduna State or northern Nigeria, but with oil money generated from the Niger-Delta region.
“It is on record that before the declaration of amnesty by President Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s daily oil production went low as 700,000 barrels but as a result of the amnesty programme, Nigeria now produces more than 2.5 million barrels of oil with resultant massive increase in the nation’s revenue.”
The IYC “wonders if Comrade Sani, a close ally of Boko Haram made his reckless and disgusting statement while suffering from the psychological effect of the massive casualties Boko Haram is recording in the hands of the Nigeria Army.”
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