Ijaw Youths Set Agenda For New Amnesty Boss

•Urges him to go beyond payment of stipends

Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa
The leadership of the foremost Ijaw youth group, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), has urged the new Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Office, Prof Quaker Dokubo, to move the programme beyond the payment of monthly stipends to militants.

Secretary General of the group, Mr. Alfred Kemepado, in a statement yesterday, noted that if the new man at the helms of affairs must succeed, he should look at the programme holistically and go beyond mere appeasement.

The IYC advised Prof Dokubo, erstwhile Director, Research and Studies at the Nigerian Institute of international Affairs (NIA) to focus on the education of youths of the region in specialised areas and offset the backlog of fees owed institutions where those on scholarship are currently schooling.
“Once again, we join all good Ijaw people to congratulate Professor Dokubo as the new coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty programme.

“Furthermore, we call on him to advance the programme far beyond where he has met it. Many of us have been silent with how that office was reduced because of the hope that corrections were going to be made soon.
“As we thank the Presidency for bringing you, a seemingly competent hand, we also call on you to put the Ijaw and Niger delta national interest ahead of your personal interest”, the IYC said.

According to the youth group, Dokubo must intimate himself with the original purpose of the programme so as to take it from the current level of merely paying ex-militants monthly stipends which it said is short-termed and non-futuristic.

The group added: “We expect you to see the amnesty programme far beyond just the payment of stipends for ex-militants, but to concentrate on the educational component of the amnesty programme.

“Just as the holy scriptures say that ‘our people perish for lack of knowledge’, you are expected to fund the education of our people in relevant areas alongside current global happenings and projections. We also call on Professor Dokubo to train more of our youths abroad for the formal and the informal sector.

“We expect him also to settle all outstanding fees of our students abroad and ensure our trained Seafarers and Pilots get relevant attachment. We also call on you to patronise more of our Ijaw and Niger Delta service providers in the amnesty office.”

The youths of Ijaw descent while urging the professor, an expert in Peace Studies, not to play unnecessary politics with his office, said he should ensure posterity judges him right after office.

“We urge you not to use the office to fund political ambitions and related avarice. At every point in time, the amnesty office must realise that, more than anything, the Ijaws need quality education. We assure you of our support and prayers as you do the right thing for our people”, Kemepado said.