February 24, (THEWILL) – Some delegates and leaders in the Niger Delta have expressed appreciation to the leadership of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) for introducing a cooperative society for ex-agitators.
The cooperative society, which is called Presidential Amnesty Cooperative Society Limited (PACOSOL), was introduced by the Interim Administrator of the programme, Maj. Gen. Barry Tariye Ndionu (Rtd).
The cooperative aims to provide an alternative means of livelihood for ex-agitators through soft loans for businesses.
The ex-agitators made their impression of the cooperative known in Calabar during an interactive session with the delegates.
The interactive session was organised by the PAP to get feedback from the delegates and beneficiaries of the PAP on the reforms introduced by the management of the programme.
Olutu Wanemi, the Chairman of PAP Phase 2, said none of the PAP administrators thought of empowering the entire 30,000 beneficiaries of the programme before the coming of the present Interim Administrator, adding that the cooperative initiative is a welcome development.
“None of the leaders had earlier thought of empowering the entire 30,000 beneficiaries but we were shocked when the Interim Administrator came on board and introduced the cooperative scheme to accommodate everybody.
“This is a welcome development for us the beneficiaries and the right thing to be done and I appeal that he should be reappointed by the President,” he said.
On his part, Ibena Rufus, the National Spokesman of Phase Two Leaders Forum, said the programme started with disarmament and demobilisation, which was successful but ran into issues with reintegration.
He said no administrator has been able to tackle that but the current administrator has demonstrated capacity to tackle that.
He commended the Interim Administrator for restructuring the programme and taking it back to the people.
Major Marshall Akpor, the Agency Liaison Officer, who represented the Interim Administrator, Maj. Gen. Barry Tariye Ndionu (Rtd), said PACOSOL was established with the aim of “giving an alternative livelihood to the ex-agitators so that they can start businesses of their own and go into entrepreneurship.”
He also disclosed that as part of the reforms going on in the programme, a platform has been created for ex-agitators to be able to apply for scholarships.
He added that the aim is to ensure that only real delegates benefit from the programme.
Also speaking, Wilfred Musa, the Head of Reintegration in PAP, said the PAP scholarship scheme is the most robust in the country.
He said no other scholarship programme in the country has the kind of offerings PAP offers to its beneficiaries and that over 10,000 people have benefitted from the scheme since its inception.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
