Akeredolu: Dokubo committed to Niger Delta development

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has praised coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, for his commitment to the development of the Niger Delta.

A statement on Sunday by Dokubo’s media aide, Murphy Ganagana, said Akeredolu spoke in Abuja at the weekend when he visited Dokubo in his office.

According to Akeredolu, the coordinator has, within a short period, demonstrated a clear commitment to the objectives of the Programme.

“Well, it is not the first time I have met him. Prof. Dokubo is someone from Niger Delta and he is committed to this programme, that, he has shown today. He has a personal commitment to everything that has to do with Niger Delta because he is one of them. So, I see that in him, and he has shown it,” Akeredolu noted.

The governor, however, urged the Federal Government to continuously assess and review participation in the programme to provide a window of opportunity for more youths in the Niger Delta to be included in the interventionist programme.

According to him, expansion of the scope to accommodate more persons will take away a lot of unrest in the Niger Delta.

The governor had visited Dokubo to solicit the inclusion of some Ondo youths into the programme. These youths had been disarmed and granted amnesty by the state government.

He said: “We are here to discuss matters that have to do with amnesty as they affect our people in Ondo State. The meeting went well and we are going to work on our decisions.

Read Also: Still on OBJ’s letter

“I think a few things have been done by him (Dokubo), and from our discussions, there must be continuous assessment of this programme, at least, to be sure that people do not take advantage of it. If you have had been trained or you have gone to school, then use the benefit for yourself; don’t deny others the opportunity to come into the scheme.

“If you have been to the university or you have been trained, and you still want to be collecting money; don’t deny others the opportunity to come into the scheme; it cannot be unending that you think that the government has all the money in this world to spend. People who have been trained should not be expected to be paid money. No, it is not right.

“I think there must come a time where people who have completed the programme should exit so others can come in; there should also be a way the programme can accommodate them; which is what we anchored our discussion on. The Federal Government should look into it so that where there are people coming in, there should be budgetary provisions for them so that they can run this programme properly.”

Prof. Dokubo, who thanked Akereodlu for the visit, explained that including more persons into the programme is an exclusive preserve of the President, and unless there was a presidential proclamation to accommodate more persons with budgetary expansion, he lacked the powers to take such decision.

He, however, said the programme was willing to train non-benefitting youths at the world-class training facilities if state governments in the region were ready to pay monthly stipends of their delegates.