Bayelsa Stakeholders Seek Probe Of Destruction Of N60bn Amnesty Centre

Chairman of the Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council, King Bubaraye Dakolo and members of the Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND) have called on the federal government to probe the circumstances surrounding the destruction and looting of the Presidential Amnesty Vocational Training Centre in Boro Town, Kaiama in Kolokuma/Opokuma local government area.

They appealed to the government to reconstruct the centre which was vandalised and looted in February 2019.

Dakolo and MSDND said despite the petitions to the state commissioner of police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and a court order against the 15 companies allegedly responsible for the five-day looting of the centre, no action had been taken.

He said the reconstruction of the centre would ensure that PAP beneficiaries are trained and employed to curb youth restiveness in the region.

Dakolo described the call on the federal government to rebuild the centre as timely and urged the government to ensure that those behind the looting of the office are brought to book.

The monarch assured the government that the people of the state would protect the office when it is reconstructed.

Dakolo said while the federal government is making funds available through the Amnesty office for the rebuilding of the training centre, “they should also show us the contractors involved in the fraud and looting of the centre.”

The national coordinator of the MSDND, Chief Ayibatekena Olodin, who addressed newsmen at the abandoned site of the centre in Kaima, commended the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) under the leadership of its interim administrator, Col. Miland Dixon Dikio (rtd).

He appealed to the federal government to strengthen its partnership with the interim administrator in order to achieve more goals of the Amnesty Programme.

Olodin said the abandoned Presidential Amnesty Vocational Training Centre has left many beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme untrained in various vocational skills needed to empower them in the society.

MSDND recalled that the vandalism and looting of the N60 billion Amnesty Training and Vocational Centre was done in a questionable manner, hence the petitions they filed before the state commissioner of police and the EFCC for a probe to bring those responsible to book.