The Federal Government has deposited N1.5bn in the bank account of a cooperative scheme launched for former Niger Delta agitators.
The Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Barry Ndiomu, Wednesday in Abuja launched the scheme tagged ‘PAP Cooperative Society limited (PAPCOSOL).’
He explained that the fund was for the ex-militants to access for businesses of their choice that would make them set-reliant.
He said the idea was to reduce their reliance on the monthly stipend of N65,000.
A retired Justice of the Supreme Court and member of National Judicial Council, Justice Francis Tabai, was appointed as chairman of the advisory board that would manage the cooperative scheme.
Ndiomu said the money, domiciled in Providus Bank, would serve as take-off for the scheme; while his office also intended to support the scheme with N500m monthly.
“The whole essence of this scheme is to discourage reliance on the monthly stipends which you will all agree with me has brought culture of indolence and is not in our best interest. So, we have decided that rather than giving them fish, we should teach them how to fish,” he said.
The leader of ex-agitators, Henry Ekes, lauded the federal government for the scheme.
