The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) interim administrator, retired Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu, has been praised by the Niger Delta Rights Assembly (NDRA) for his nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is said in a statement sent to the media on Tuesday and signed by Chief Israel Bokromo, President of NDRA.
The organisation regarded Ndiomu’s selection as a gift for the Niger Delta and the country as a whole.
Bokromo thanked the president for the appointment on behalf of the organisation. “We congratulate President Buhari for choosing Ndiomu, who it stated has restored sanity and order into the Programme, despite baseless emotions and self-serving lobbying.
“We also wish to acknowledge and commend Ndiomu for stepping forward to meet the difficulties confronting the Amnesty Programme.
“We acknowledge the pressure being put on Buhari to end the plan by those who have bad intentions for the country in general and the people of the Niger Delta in particular.
The President picked Ndiomu, a guy with a track record of honesty and military discipline, in addition to ignoring the lobbyists.We want it known that Ndiomu’s appointment was appropriate.
He has permitted an audit of the Program’s actions since he started working at the Amnesty office, which has revealed various fraudulent acts.
According to Bokromo, “He brought a regime of reforms that have helped to block the leakages and conduits through which many criminally inclined people have been profiting and stealing money intended for the genuine ex-militants.”
He claims that the assembly praised the Buhari administration for including important Niger Delta stakeholders in sustaining stability, safeguarding the security of oil and gas infrastructure, and halting the flow of stolen petroleum into the creeks.
He said that it was a brilliant move that has drastically decreased the frequency of oil theft to include stakeholders like Mr. Government Ekpemupolo, commonly known as Tompolo, in securing the oil and gas infrastructure in the creeks.
“The panel emphasised that Ndiomu’s culture of probity, accountability, and openness is producing the expected effects, particularly the disclosure of massive fraud verging on problematic payment systems and contract inflation.
The organisation mentioned a few of Ndiomu’s accomplishments, such as winning Buhari’s trust and support and prompt payment of monthly allotments.
Another accomplishment is maintaining regional peace, which has increased crude oil production to an average of 1.67 million barrels per day.
Other accomplishments include, among others, the completion of five vocational training centres, innovative cooperative policy initiatives, and data sanitization to identify real ex-agitators.
He continued by saying that in only six months, Ndiomu has protected the project from inflated contracts totaling over N1.5 billion.
Bokromo noted that rather than addressing the demands of a few emergency contractors who lack both competence and ability, Ndiomu has successfully positioned the initiative towards attaining its main objective of addressing the needs of ex-militants.
To prevent repeat protests, he nonetheless encouraged the next administration to uphold the ethos of honesty and budgetary conservatism established by Ndiomu.
