Odahiekwu Ogunde, Yenagoa
Ex-agitators, under the third phase Presidential Amnesty Programme have begged the Federal Government to increase the funding for the programme to enable the Interim Administrator, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (retd), to finalise the reintegration stage of the scheme.
The ex-agitators said Dikio within a few months of assuming leadership of PAP had resolved most of the problems affecting the scheme and should be empowered with adequate funds to finalise the most important aspect of the programme.
National Chairman, Third Phase, Mr. Tonye Bobo, made the appeal during a visit to members of the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Friday.
He said It was unfortunate that 11 years after surrendering their arms, the Federal Government had yet to end the reintegration process.
He also requested that the third phase beneficiaries of the programme should be included in education and vocational training for its delegates.
Bobo stated, “It is unfortunate that we have stayed for 11 years plus and the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration are not completed. We are just trying to calm our followers, but our patience should not be considered to be foolishness.
“That is why when we saw the vision of Col. Dikio for amnesty programme, we decided to key into it to restore peace in the region.
“I want to assure you that if the needful is not done, there will be more agitations. We are only trying to calm our people for us to change the narrative. We are seeking maximum support from the government to the office of the Interim Administrator of the Amnesty programme, all the funds that is required and is due to the office should be released.
“We want the funding for amnesty programme to move down to first line charges; those that disarmed and were not documented should be carried along, because all these days, they have been crying that if government is not reasoning with them, they will be demanding their arms and ammunition that they submitted to the government.
“We want to partner the government and create a relationship that will be free of violence, so that people will know that what they are thinking about us is not what we are.
“Some of our people have applied since 2012 for education scholarship, up till date, these things have not been met.”