Chief Coordinator, Federal Government Inter Agency Coordinating Committee on Amnesty, AVM Lucky Ararile disclosed yesterday that the National Assembly has appropriated N10.2 billion out of the N50 billion proposed to it by President Umaru Yar’Adua for the amnesty package.

AVM Ararile who disclosed this while briefing the newsmen on the end of the 60-day amnesty offer in Abuja, explained that N958,612,000.00 has already been spent on the benefiting ex-militants.

He said, the number of ex-militants may rise to about 14,000 or 15,000 and that if they come up to 15,000, “we will talk about N975 million per month as allowances to them”

According to him, “you can recall that the President submitted a supplementary bill recently to the National Assembly and they approved it before they went on recess. It was public knowledge and was widely reported. So, I still can’t understand why the issue of N50 billion is still coming up”.

“That was not what was appropriated. You can propose whatever you will want, you can propose N100 billion, and you can propose N500 billion, if they give you N5 billion that is it. What the National Assembly has given to you, that is what you will use.

“It will be recalled that the President proposed N50 billion supplementary bill to the National Assembly but the sum of N10.14 billion was approved. The National Assembly has appropriated the sum of N10.14 billion to the agency I can remember correctly”.

On the agency’s expenditure so far, he said, “as at 7th October 2009, the total sum that has been released to the agency is N958,612,000.00. Now, there is a sum of N1.273 billion that has been approved but has not been credited to the agency’s account. As at yesterday, it has not entered our account, but we are aware it has been released.

“This amount that we are expecting is feeding allowance, when it enters our account, we will use it to offset both outstanding and future allowances to the ex-militants”, he said.

He added that “the original budget was worked on an estimate of 10,000 ex-militants and you know that if ex-militants accumulated in terms of feeding allowances and monthly stipends is N65,000 for 10,000 militants you are talking about N650 million.

“But the N1.2 million is actually for two months allowances of the ex-militants. But as I have just told you now, we are expecting about 14, 000 to 15, 000 ex-militants. If they come up to 15,000, we will talk about N975 million per month as allowances to the ex-militants”.

On what the government intends to do with the arms and ammunition surrendered by the militants, AVM Ararile explained that there are options available to the government on how to handle the issue of the arms and ammunitions, adding, “but the government has not decided yet.”

Speaking earlier, Media Coordinator of the agency, Dr. Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, eulogized the success recorded by the Presidential amnesty programme, noting, “the number of the militants that accepted the amnesty offer were so many that the capacity of the Amnesty Committee was pushed to its limits”.

She said, the huge quantity, quality and sophistication of the arms recovered under the amnesty programme shows that the Niger Delta and Nigeria is a safer place now.

‘Amnesty not end of N-Delta crisis’

Also NUPENG has urged the government against believing that the disarmament of some militants is an end to the Niger Delta crisis.

The union argued that “for the simple fact that organisation like the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, is still threatening and breathing fire, means that the government has more work to do to ensure that not only MEND, but other unknown groups and individuals that may not have embraced peace and abandon violence are encouraged to do so”.

President of NUPENG, Comrade Peter Esele, called on the Federal and state governments and other agencies saddled with the development of the region to embark on massive development of the Niger Delta if there must be enduring peace.



MY OPINION IS THAT THE MILITANT ARE FREEDOM FIGHTERS WHO ARE FIGHTING FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THEIR COMMUNITY AND NOT FOR THEIR OWN PERSONAL ALLOWANCE. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER OUR LEADERS ARE NOT WISE, THEY SEEMS TO ENCOURAGE AND REWARD CRIMINALITY, EVEN OUR ARM FORCES AND POLICE ARE PAID AS LOW AS N20,000.

WHAT IS YOUR OWN OPINION ON THIS?

Hmmm, Even if the militants are paid 1million naira monthly, they will still kidnap white men!

65,000 naira monthly for renouncing militancy? these are the indices of a failed state. the BIG question is how long can this be sustained.

Oh wow!!!! I have come to a conclusion that Ijo people are the most gullible set of people in the South not worth taken seriously at all by anyone. So these idiots are so willing to send other young men to their early graves in the name of fighting NIGER DELTA but will drop their guns and abandone their causes which are legitomate at the mere promise that they will given monthly checks and other riches. So what about the Ijo folks who are not militants but have bared the brunt of the violence and environment disaster? Does it mean that these militants will now abandone them to enjoy wealth. Its obvious that there are so many criminal elements in MEND you feel like a fool supporting their gullible asses that are easily bought up by money. Why are these southern minorities Ijo in particular so gullible? Haven't they learned from Boro and Wiwa's experience?

We wonder why they easily abandoned the Biafra cause to steal houses owned by Igbos in PH instead of fighting for the liberation of their region?

So what?

^^^Are u asking me?

Ijele-igbo:

Hmmm, Even if the militants are paid 1million naira monthly, they will still kidnap white men!

i like them to be kidnapping more of the Nigerian politician than white men to take their share of the embezzle funds.

Ijele-igbo:

Hmmm,  Even if the militants are paid 1million naira monthly, they will still kidnap white men!

i like them to be kidnapping more of the Nigerian politicians than white men to take their share of the embezzle funds.

i laugh in pidgin, Nigeria Government has failed again,
why not channel those funds to the developments of the Region,
I dear to say, the young shall grow, younger militants would definitely evolve, militants who would come out for the same course, and at the end of the day, the problem remains the same! taxpayers money wasted and looted!
Shame!!!!!

Na wao, Common militant dey earn #65000 where graduates dey earn #15 000,.what a shame!

why not conscript them into the 'Nigeria Army', train them & farm them out to the different trouble spots on the continent? these payments dont seem sustainable to me.