Buhari Will Not Abandon Ijaw Youths – Boroh
The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd), has assured Ijaw youths that President Muhammadu Buhari will not abandon them.
Boroh’s assurance came when representatives of 25 Ijaw youth groups, including the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and the National Association of Izon-Ebe Students held a rally at the gates of the Presidential Amnesty Office in Maitama, Abuja yesterday.
Boroh, who is also the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), said the rally was a demonstration of their support for the Buhari administration and assured of the government’s commitment to mass employment, sustainable peace and development of the Niger Delta.
“The president who is interested in your matter, who ensures your welfare by sustaining PAP and has plans for mass employment like the agriculture initiative and the modular refinery is a president you can trust.
“There is going to be mass inclusiveness of all of us in the Niger Delta development programmes. If you go to Gelegele today, the people are happy with the Quick Impact Project and the government will do more,” Boron said in a statement issued by the Head, Media, PAP, Mr. Owei Lakemfa.
Responding to the apprehension by the youths that the Presidential Amnesty Programme may be shut down, he said this was not on the cards.
He explained that some aspects of the Programme are winding down, citing the offshore education programme in which he said 92 per cent of the beneficiaries had graduated from various universities especially in Europe and America.
The leader of the youths, Mr. Priye Ebizimo, who is also the Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Abuja Chapter expressed delight that the programme is not being shut down.
“While the Amnesty Programme cannot last forever, it is more of a journey than a destination,” he said, adding that the youths appreciate Boroh’s achievements in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Ebizimor said the youths at their Monday January 23, 2017 , meeting and press conference had passed a vote of confidence in the leadership of Boroh because of its “unprecedented progress in the peace-building” in the Niger Delta and “the resultant increases in production of oil and gas companies in the region and (he) should therefore be retained.”
