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By Adebowale Johnson
The Itsekiri Congress United Kingdom (ICUK) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to urgently investigate the alleged exclusion of qualified Itsekiri youths from Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) scholarships and other human capital development initiatives.
In a statement jointly signed by its President, Sunny Oritsegbubemi Okuku, and Public Relations Officer, Mr Norris Orighoye, the organisation expressed concern over what it described as the apparent under-representation of qualified Itsekiri beneficiaries in recent PAP foreign postgraduate scholarship and capacity-building programmes.
ICUK called for transparency in the selection and deployment of beneficiaries, urging the PAP leadership and the Office of the NSA to explain the criteria used in selecting beneficiaries.
The organisation specifically cited specialised postgraduate programmes in Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, Data Science, Maritime and Energy Law, Forensic Auditing, Fintech Analytics and Construction Engineering Management.
According to ICUK, information available to its diaspora leadership suggested that beneficiaries were predominantly drawn from some Ijaw communities, particularly Gbaramatu, as well as networks allegedly linked to political interests, with little or no representation of qualified Itsekiri candidates.
The organisation, however, stressed that the allegation should be independently verified through a transparent review of beneficiary lists and the criteria used in the selection process.
ICUK also raised concerns over the deployment of about 3,900 PAP beneficiaries to tertiary institutions across Nigeria for the 2025/2026 academic session.
The figure is consistent with PAP’s publicly stated increase in in-country scholarship beneficiaries from 3,800 in the 2024/2025 academic year to 3,900 in 2025/2026. The programme has also reported about 200 beneficiaries under its foreign scholarship component.
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ICUK urged the PAP leadership to ensure that ongoing online application exercises were conducted transparently and did not merely legitimise predetermined beneficiary lists.
It called for the publication of quota distributions, selection criteria and verifiable merit-based standards across participating oil-producing ethnic nationalities.
The organisation also appealed to the Special Adviser to the President on the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr Dennis Burutu Otuaro, to administer the programme in accordance with the principles of equity, fairness, transparency and federal character.
ICUK said historical disputes over administrative representation and community delineation in Delta State remained sensitive issues, warning that any perception of ethnic favouritism could deepen distrust and undermine peace in the Niger Delta.
The organisation maintained that the Itsekiri nation had historically remained a peaceful and law-abiding host to major oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta.
It therefore called for the immediate inclusion of qualified Itsekiri beneficiaries in upcoming vocational training programmes, professional certification schemes and future foreign educational opportunities.
ICUK also urged Otuaro to engage directly with accredited Itsekiri stakeholders to identify and address any perceived disparities in the implementation of the programme.
The organisation consequently called on President Tinubu and NSA Ribadu to institute a comprehensive and independent review of the foreign postgraduate scholarship deployment and tertiary education admission lists under PAP.
It said justice, equity, fairness and verifiable transparency should guide the programme, stressing that an open and credible process would strengthen public confidence in the Presidential Amnesty Programme and ensure that qualified beneficiaries across the Niger Delta have equal access to opportunities.
