From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has offered reasons for its new policy mandating all prospective beneficiaries of its scholarship scheme to first take and pass the examination organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
According to the agency, the new policy was designed to eliminate mediocrity in the scheme as the programme continued with its quest to transform ex-agitators into well-educated entrepreneurs and employable citizens capable of contributing meaningfully to the economic prosperity of the Niger Delta region and the nation at large after the completion of their programme.
The interim administrator, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Nneotaobase Egbe, explained that the policy was crucial and vital for the personal, intellectual, mental growth and development of the delegates as well as the development and economic growth of the Niger Delta.
The statement read in part: “The PAP came up with a new policy mandating every prospective scholarship candidate to take the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination as one of the criteria to qualify for PAP scholarship. What is the Amnesty deal? Does it equate mediocrity? Our universities are turning out an army of unskilled, unemployable adults into a labour market bursting at the seams.