FG Set to Pay Backlog of Stipends, Allowances of Amnesty Beneficiaries

• FG Set to Pay Backlog of Stipends, Allowances of Amnesty Beneficiaries

The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier General Paul Boroh (rtd), said the Amnesty Office has prepared the necessary documents for the payment of all the outstanding stipends and allowances to beneficiaries of the Programme.

Boron disclosed that the Amnesty Office has concluded all arrangements with the Finance Ministry, the Budget Office, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and received assurances that the necessary funds to pay the backlog of the 2016 stipend, training, education, vocation and empowerment of the beneficiaries will soon be released.

According to him, what is left was the necessary cash backing for the balance of 2016 payments.

A statement issued by the Communications Consultant to the Amnesty Office, Mr. Owei Lakemfa, said Boron however clarified that there will be no payments for any part of 2017 is possible because the budget for the current year is yet to be passed or signed into law.

He commended what he described as the exemplary conduct of the Amnesty beneficiaries in the trying times the programme faced due to the paucity of funds and assured that the worst is over.

Boroh also assured that adequate provisions have been made in the 2017 budget to ensure that the financial challenges are not experienced again.

He admonished the beneficiaries to take advantage of the federal government’s focus on agriculture including the liberal loans like the Central Bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme and those of the Bank of Industry, adding that the Amnesty Office has its own set of agriculture and aquatic programmes and training which are being gradually expanded to encompass all the beneficiaries.