The Ijaw Youth Congress has urged President Bola Tinubu to increase funding fir the Presidential Amnesty Programme ( PAP).
The Council, represented by its President, Jonathan Lokpobiri, made the call when he visited the PAP Interim Administrator, Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd), in Abuja.
Lokpobiri noted said there was need for upward review for the funding of PAP, so as to accommodate more youths in its empowerment initiatives.
While noting that the Programme has been “tremendously successful” in terms of impacting lives of young Niger Deltans, he expressed the commitment and readiness of the IYC as the umbrella body of young people in the region to partner and work “strategically” with Ndiomu to further reposition the PAP.
“With the fast decrease in value of the Naira, a N65billion annual funding is a far cry. N65billion of now cannot do what N65billion of before would have done,” he said adding that, “It is our appeal to the Government of President Bola Tinubu that there needs to be a review”.
Lokpobiri disclosed that the IYC is currently building a Training Center in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, as part of its contribution towards the development of youths within the region.
Earlier in his remarks, PAP’s Interim Administrator, Major Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd), noted that he was determined to making the programme more impactful, but lamented that paucity of funds was the one of the challenges.
Ndiomu called on the leadership of IYC to help its members to appreciate what government has done for the region through the initiative.
While debunking wrong impression about the Amnesty’s Scholarship programmes, he disclosed that his administration has cleared all academic bills of its beneficiaries, both for local and foreign students.
Ndiomu called on the Ijaw nation to “check its excesses”, and explore ways of working with other ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta region to drive “peace, unity and harmony”.
While decrying the “disturbing” level of poverty in Ijaw land, the Interim Administrator expressed worry that young people in Niger Delta are not taking full advantage of the enormous opportunities in the region. Among these, he listed the vast natural habitat for rice farming, and the untapped potentials of oil palm production.
