Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku
Chairman
of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, has faulted the
claim by the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu, that the programme is constituting a drainpipe to the
nation’s treasury.
Kuku said in a statement by PAP’s Head,
Media and Communications, Daniel Alabrah, on Wednesday that Tinubu’s
claim was not true, adding that the programme had helped to stabilise
the country’s security and economy.
He said Tinubu, a former governor of
Lagos State, was fond of politicising every policy of President Goodluck
Jonathan including the amnesty programme.
The statement quoted Kuku as saying
that, “It is regrettable that as a former governor of a state like
Lagos, his stock-in-trade is not only to politicise every policy or
programme of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration but also
vilely tries to achieve political capital through such less than
salutary criticisms.”
Kuku challenged the APC leader to show proof of his allegations against the amnesty programme.
The statement also read, “As a security
stabilisation programme for the hitherto restive Niger Delta, the
amnesty programme has achieved its objective ,through well thought-out
vocational training and formal education schemes for the former
agitators in the region.”
Tinubu had on Monday described the
programme as a drainpipe, adding that right from its inception, it had
been corrupted and hijacked by the President’s clique.
The former governor had said, “The
amnesty conceived from inception has been corrupted and hijacked by the
President’s clique. It is one of Nigeria’s drainpipes. A slush fund for
political expeditions and a conduit to siphon money to the boys.”
However, Kuku in the statement argued
that, “Is it a programme that has trained no fewer than 16,000 Niger
Delta youths in three years that is a drain pipe?
“Is it a scheme through which commercial
pilots have been produced for Nigeria that is a drain pipe? What about
the delegates currently undergoing jet/type-rating training at the
Lufthansa Pilot Institute in Germany?
“Is it a programme that is producing
aviation professionals, aeronautical engineers, marine/maritime
technicians and technologists that is a conduit?”
He recalled that prior to the
commencement of the amnesty programme four years ago, violent agitations
by Niger Delta youths had crippled economic and social activities in
the region, which is the nation’s economic mainstay.
He said, “At the peak of the crisis in
2009, Nigeria’s crude production fell from 2.2million barrels per day to
as low as 700,000 barrels per day.
“Today, following the proclamation and
implementation of the amnesty programme, crude production hovers between
2.4 million and 2.6 million barrels per day.”
Kuku said with the proclamation of the
amnesty programme, all the ex-agitators had since been “fully disarmed,
demobilised and are either currently in training or have since been
trained.”
He said the step by the Federal
Government was aimed at adding to national Gross Domestic Product and
improving the families of Nigerians.”
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