The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, OSAPND, Chief Dr. Dennis Otuaro, has promised stakeholders that he will not fail the people of the region but is rather poised to do more in his stead as the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, most especially in capturing and empowering more beneficiaries into the programme while also tasking them to sustain the peace.

Dr. Otuaro made the pledge at a five-day stakeholders' meeting which began with the first phase of delegates from across the region in Warri, Delta State, on Friday, June 21, 2024.

According to the Administrator of the PAP in his opening remark at the programme which has as its theme: “Fostering, Consolidating and Collaborating for the Peace, Security, Stability & Development of the Niger Delta”, the purpose of the stakeholders' meeting is to brainstorm on the way forward with the delegates towards advancing the programme and streamlining it to its core vision, as well as consolidate on the gains achieved so far “by bringing more legacy ideas to see that the peace and security of the Niger Delta is sustained.”

Dr. Otuaro who said the peace and security in the region need to be sustained inorder to attract more developments for the benefit of the people, tasked the phase one leaders whom he described as "casualties of the struggle" in their having lost relatives and friends in the agitation, to continue to support the programme especially in birthing new ideas.

In his words, "This job, I'm doing it today, believing that with you people behind me, I will do it better. There is no excuse to fail any of you here, or the people of Niger Delta. As elders we are doing this for our communities, our children, our grandchildren and for Nigeria.

“If the Niger Delta of today, if we don't sustain it and tomorrow it relapse to the pre-amnesty years, the world will believe that we are to blame, I am to blame. And so we have to consolidate on the peace to open the way for more development in the region.”

The PAP Boss, who noted that education is a lasting legacy, revealed that he will continue to seek the audience of stakeholders as well as utilise the programme to empower the people so that they too will in turn bring more development and empowerment to the region.

"The amnesty programme as it is designed, is designed for human capital development so that we prepare our people for business opportunities, in various academic fields. And then our people can be employable anywhere in the world.

"We must therefore use this programme to empower our people... I'm not here because of money. If it's money, this is the wrong time to do the job. This is the time to create more opportunities for our people. I don't see this job as retirement job. So I promise you I will do it better," he promised 

In attendance at the day one of the stakeholders' meeting are phase one leaders from across the various states in the Niger Delta region.

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