PRESS RELEASE 22-08-2021
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), under the Chairmenship Forum of zones and Chapter, wish to appreciate the Commander in Chief of the AmrsForces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency President Gen Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd), and the National Security Adviser, Major Gen Mohammed Babagana Monguno for appointing Col. Milland Dixon Dikio as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty office.
The Presidential Amnesty Programme proclamation was declared by the then late President Umaru Musa Yar-dua, on the 5th of June 2009. The PAP was designed as Nigeria's home growing programme which is also known as Nigeria Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) package for the Niger Delta ex-Combatants.
The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), created as a result of the proclamation, was designed to restore oil production to the pre-amnesty level and reducing the scale of insecurity in the Niger Delta region. Part of its provision is to support ex-militants with monthly stipends, as well as providing vocational and university education as part of its Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) process.
The programme was designed for three phases, the First phase 20,192, Second phase 6,166, and Third phase 3,642 in total ex-combatants of Thirty Thousand (30,000) Niger Delta youths enlisted.
The oil-rich Niger Delta region is paradoxically described as the oil pollution capital of the world. The region produces Nigeria’s crude oil, about two million barrels per day in 2019,
supplies 95 percent of Nigeria’s export earnings and 80 percent of Federal Government revenue, but, ironically, more than 50 percent of its youths are believed to be unemployed or underemployed most especially in the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) perspective.
The Presidential Amnesty Programme, (PAP) was modeled after the United Nations’ Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) interventionist programme. The PAP was adjudged a success for restoring oil production to the pre-amnesty level and reducing the scale of insecurity in the region.
The PAP has recorded some achievements. First, it has helped in mitigating tension and insecurity in the region. Incidences of kidnapping and cases of disruption of the oil economy have significantly reduced, and oil workers who had fled the Niger Delta region had returned to sites.
By and large, there seems to be a consensus that a level of stabilisation has been achieved; just as overall security has been improved. While the disarmament phase of the DDR process was seen as a success. The relevance of the formal educational, vocational skills acquisition, and entrepreneurship training programmes and the relationship with and involvement of employers have been of critical interest.
Thus, it has been difficult for beneficiaries to land jobs after graduation; a situation complicated by the current decline of oil price and the negative impact of the COVID-19 on the economy. In the same vein, there is an apparent lack of coherence between the activities of PAP, other Niger Delta intervention agencies at federal as well as state levels, and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of key organisations in the region such as the IOCs, since the PAP activities are largely being implemented in isolation of other related workstreams. Also evident is the lack of involvement or buy-in of some of the main job employers in the country.
It is generally agreed that the disarmament and demobilisation phases have been completed.
However, it can be argued that the disarmament objectives have only been partially met, same with demobilisation objectives. For instance, the failure to dismantle the command and control structures of the various militant groups has been a significant cause for concern. It is evident that the root causes of the conflict such as marginalisation, corruption, youth unemployment, poverty, environmental degradation are still visible and mostly unaddressed.
However, the appointment of Col.Milland Dixon Dikio has brought some tangible expected results in the Office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP). With the transformational leadership style of Col. Dikio one year in office shows that he is truly ready and prepared to change the negative narrative of the Presidential Amnesty Programme. He came with a vision to achieve his mission of peace as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP). He has brought back the program to its original beneficiaries and provide the needed leadership to steer the Presidential Amnesty Programme in order to achieve its original mandate and mission accomplished.
The critical stakeholders and beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme have hope for Col.Milland Dixon Dikio. Simply because, on his resumption as the new Interim Administrator at the PAP, Dikio decided that the quest for lasting peace in the Niger Delta region and the desired creation of a safe environment for business growth and development would be better achieved with an effective first hand relationship with critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta region. He designed a programme of action which he christened Back-to-the-Region-Tour, which was designed to take the Amnesty Programme to the people of the Niger Delta where they lived and worked, as the programme was originally conceived.
The Chairmenship Forum of zones and Chapters, also, aware that, Col.Milland Dikio and his team went to the palaces of traditional rulers across the Niger Delta with his gospel of peace as a condition for economic prosperity and development. He gathered activists, leaders, and ex-combatants into conference halls in Akwa Ibom, Edo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Ondo states to familiarise with the Stakeholders and beneficiaries of the PAP.
According to Col.Dikio genuine statement, “The PAP is a programme that was designed especially for ex-agitators. If you are not an ex-agitator you’re a stranger. I don’t see why it will be the other way". The Chairmenship Forum of zones and Chapters, Ijaw Youth Council totally agree with this statement. Simply because, most people in time past, who are disturbing the peace of the Presidential Amnesty Programme are not even beneficiaries of the Programme. That is why the PAP office must sincerely identify the real beneficiaries. The lack of identifying the real beneficiaries is the cause of numerous petitions against the Office.
PAP office should not allow any camp leaders to shortchanged any beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme. The Ijaw Youth Council, Chairmenship Forum of zones, and Chapters are in support of the ongoing verification exercise to confirm the real beneficiaries of the 65,000 monthly stipends.
Col.Milland Dixon Dikio Rtd, the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty programme, always emphasized that violence and its destructive implications should not be associated with the oil-rich Niger Delta, enjoined the youths to devote their strength and creative energy to technology and acquisition of digital skills in order to become dominant forces in the world like their counterparts elsewhere.
According to Col.Dikio, “The struggle Niger-Deltans are embarking on is no longer an armed struggle, but dominance in the intellectual space, science, and technology-driven by skill acquisition. “I want you all to understand that you can be what you want to be. You can choose to be great and you will be great. It all depends on you. So, for you to be great, you must think great and begin to do great things, not things that will be inimical to your growth.”
In addition, the office had become a hotbed for incessant protests in the Niger Delta. At the centre of the protests which always culminated in the blockade of the biggest highway in the Niger Delta, the East-West Road, was the issue of the nonpayment of the N65,000 monthly stipends to beneficiaries of the Programme. “Since he came, he has undertaken some reforms to ensure that the office of PAP gets it right, and monthly stipends have always been paid every 25th of the month. Since he took over control of the office, he has embarked on drastic measures to introduce reforms designed to put the PAP on the path of delivering results.
The Ijaw Youth Council, Chairmenship Forum of zones and Chapters, sincerely believe that Col. Dikio, desire is to transform the ex-agitators into entrepreneurs among others with his new vision of Niger Delta Stabilization Programme (NDSP). Therefore, we wholeheartedly congratulate Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd.) on his one year in office. We the "Chairmenship Forum of IYC" is very happy with his performance in the Presidential Amnesty office. As a matter of fact, we are proud of him. He is extremely focusing on the core mandate of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
“As critical stakeholders and leadership of zones and Chapters of IYC, we are quite happy with his clear vision and transformational leadership styles. Col. Milland Dixon Dikio Rtd has brought genuine peace to the Niger Delta region as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
Therefore, we recommended that he should be confirmed as the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty office. This is the wide opinion of the majority of the Niger Delta stakeholders in the region because of his excellent performance.
God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria!
God bless the Niger Delta region!!
Long live Ijaw Nation!!!
Long live Ijaw Youth Council IYC!!!!
Signed:
1. Comrade Clever Inodu,
Chairman Central Zone & Chairmenship Forum.
2. Chief Diplomat Adam Ogomugo Marbo,
Chairman IYC Abuja & Secretary Chairmenship Forum.
3. Dr. Doubra Collins Okotete ,
Chairman Western zone & Member Chairmenship Forum.
4. Comrade Henry Oyobolo,
Chairman Lagos Chapter & Member Chairmenship Forum.
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