Edo to get Amnesty Office

The Special Adviser to the President/Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-General Paul Boroh (rtd), says the Office has concluded plans to establish an extension office in Edo state.

He said, the move was part of measures by  the Amnesty to improve security, geared towards sustainable reintegration of the ex-Niger Delta agitators in Edo State.

Boroh disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole at the Government House, Benin, adding that the proposed office would serve as a command and control post which enable the Presidential Amnesty Office in Abuja to have a firm control of the beneficiaries at the grassroots.

The project which he described as a collaborative effort between the Amnesty office with the governor of Edo State, was meant to sensitize key stakeholders in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, informing that the state offices comprise representatives from the state government, the military and para-military, representative of the Presidential Amnesty Office, representative of the ex-agitators in the state and other relevant key stakeholders.

He further stated that the focus of the Presidential Amnesty Programme under his charge is to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for the 30, 000 ex-agitators enlisted on the programme, with a view to properly reintegrating them into the society.

On the delay in the payment of stipends and in-training allowances to beneficiaries, particularly offshore students, the presidential aide maintained that while his office was saddled with the verification of names and accounts of beneficiaries, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) processes and effects the transfer of the funds to individual accounts of the beneficiaries in line with the federal government’s directive on the Treasury Single Accounts (TSA).

He however, advised the beneficiaries in the programme to exercise patience with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on its anti-corruption stance, pointing out that TSA policy is meant to block most, if not all leakages which have been the bane of the growth of the nation’s economy in the past.

Edo to get Amnesty Office