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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Presidential Amnesty Programme Programme (PAP), has set up a cooperative scheme for about 30,000 former Niger Delta agitators.
PAP Interim Administrator Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd), told journalists yesterday in Abuja that the scheme was launched to discourage indolence and reliance on the monthly stipends.
Ndiomu noted that the Presidential Amnesty Programme Cooperative Society Limited (PAPCOSOL) would be in the area of rice and cassava farming due to the rich vegetation in the region.
According to him, rural dwellers would be incorporated into the scheme in order to reduce unemployment and youth restiveness.
He said: “We just launched the Presidential Amnesty Programme cooperative scheme. The intended beneficiaries are former agitators.
“Gradually, we hope that as the funding increases, we will expand to the impacted communities. They will be other beneficiaries across the Niger Delta.
“The whole idea is to discourage reliance on stipends which you will agree with me has introduced the culture of dependency and indolence which is not in our best interest.
“And so we have decided that rather than give them the fish, it is better we teach them how to fish and how they can become entrepreneurs with the funds available which they can access freely since they themselves will be the managers the cooperative scheme.
“We are not going to be involved. We are only going to supervise and to assist them with the consultant that we have appointed to oversee their activities and economic empowerment as time goes on. In the Niger Delta, the trees cut across the rivers.
“It is a natural place where we can grow rice. We have identified various communities, we have put up memorandum of understanding with these communities in developing rice farms.
“I hope that in the next couple of months you will hear about some of the progress we have made. We are in discussion with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
“We are looking at producing cassava and several other crops that thrive in the Niger Delta.
“The total number of agitators captured so far was about 30,000. But that number has dropped significantly over the years.
“We are looking at just about that number or even much more. It is a loan scheme.We are teaching them to become entrepreneurs.”
He clarified that beneficiaries would repay the loans, adding that PAP would not be directly be involved in the operations.
“So, we are not going to encourage them to become lazy. For the scheme to revolve you will have to have a system.
“It is hoped that over time we expect naturally that they become empowered and disengage from the scheme,” he said.
Also, PAP Advisory Board Chairman, Francis Tabai, added that the initiative, if implemented to the fullest would reduce over dependence on the 65,000 monthly stipends.
