Tinubu Will Continue To Fund Amnesty Programme, Says Minister

Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, has assured the people of the Niger Delta that President Bola Tinubu will continue to support the Presidential Amnesty Programme in delivering on its mandate for the socio-economic advancement and development of the region and, indeed, the country.

Idris spoke at the PAP interactive session with its foreign scholarship beneficiaries organised in London by the PAP Administrator, Dr Dennis Brutu Otuaro, on the sidelines of the President Tinubu’s state visit to the United Kingdom on Wednesday.

This was just as the PAP foreign scholarship beneficiaries presented an Award of Appreciation to the President for strongly supporting the programme, which has led to large-scale onshore and offshore deployments of beneficiaries for various undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Among the dignitaries that graced the event were the minister of State for Petroleum, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri; the special assistant on Diaspora Matters to the Governor of Delta State, Olorogun Gloria Aghaghovia; officials of the Ijaw People’s Association, Great Britain and Ireland, and other Niger Delta groups.

Idris, who received the award on behalf of President Tinubu at the event, said the PAP under the leadership of Otuaro is “building a community of intellectuals.”

According to him, there is a need for the president to continually fund the PAP, stressing that the programme has changed the hitherto negative narrative of the Niger Delta for good.

The minister, while addressing the students, said, “At this moment that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is paying a state visit to the United Kingdom, the first of its kind in nearly four decades, this (interactive session) is one side event that the President is really proud of.

“I have received the plaque from you on behalf of the President. I am going to deliver this plaque to him. I am going to tell him what I have seen here, and that there is a need for him to continue to support the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

“All of you young men and women that are benefiting from the Presidential Amnesty Programme here in the UK are over 223, undergoing various undergraduate and post-graduate studies; this is very heartwarming.

“This is a programme that is producing a community of intellectuals that are not only interested in the development of the Niger Delta, but also Nigeria as a whole.”

He commended Otuaro for his hard work and for the programme’s impact on the region’s youths and communities.

Idris also urged the foreign scholarship students to be good ambassadors of Nigeria in the Uk, and also take their studies seriously in order to attain academic excellence.

“I am sure President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be proud to see all of you here participating proudly, and benefiting from the programme that is aimed towards not just the restoration of the Niger Delta region, but also having to close the human capital development gap that we so dearly need in our dear country.

“Mr President is committed to ensuring that all parts of Nigeria are benefiting from the dividends of democracy, and for the prosperity that he promised Nigerians when he took office,” he added.

In his goodwill message, Senator Lokpobiri praised President Tinubu for his “love for Ijaw and the Niger Delta people.”

He also lauded the achievements of the PAP Administrator and expressed appreciation to the President for appointing him.

In his remarks, Otuaro noted that President Tinubu had never withheld support for the programme, even as he backed reforms aimed at repositioning it for better service delivery to the people of the Niger Delta.

He highlighted the fact that all the recent remarkable successes recorded by the PAP, including the deployment of 8, 205 scholarship beneficiaries in the last two years were enabled by the President’s massive support, adding that the engagement with the foreign scholarship beneficiaries underscored his gratitude to him.