Ijaw youths demand upwards review of N65bn Presidential Amnesty Programme budget

The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has called for an upward review of the budgetary allocation for the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, in the 2024 budget.

The President of the Council, Jonathan Lokpobiri, made the demand in a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

The IYC leader explained that an upward review of the allocation to the PAP would enable the programme to meet up with current realities and expectations.

“With the fast decrease in value of the Naira, a N65 billion annual funding is a far cry. This is because what N65 billion can achieve in 2023 will not be the same in 2024.

“We appeal to President Bola Tinubu to carry out an upward review of the allocation to PAP,” Lokpobiri said.

According to him, the programme had been a great success in terms of impacting lives of young people in the Niger Delta region.

He expressed the commitment and readiness of the IYC, as the umbrella body of young people in the region, to partner and work strategically with the Interim Administrator of PAP, Major-General Barry Ndiomu (Rtd).

In his remarks, Ndiomu commended the IYC President for acknowledging the paucity of funds in the PAP.

“When people make comments without getting their facts right, it becomes displeasing. I appreciate Lokpobiri’s acknowledgment of the current realities of the value of Naira to dollar.”

Ndiomu tasked the IYC leadership to take up the responsibility of preaching the many success stories of the PAP to young people in the region, adding that IYC should also admonish the youths in the region to eschew laziness and indolence and begin to think of bigger ways to sustainably improve their lives.