Beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) have alleged fraudulent withdrawal and nonpayment of their benefits totalling about N1.9 billion.
The affected personnel also alleged that the monies were deducted from trainees and beneficiaries of the programme under the office of the Department of Reintegration.
Reacting to the development, the Special Assistant, Media at the Amnesty Office, Freston Akpor, said the allegations were frivolous and a smear campaign against the interim administrator of PAP.
In a statement signed by the convener of the group of aggrieved beneficiaries, Michael Jonathan, on Wednesday, the beneficiaries under the name of Trainees and Beneficiaries Group, alleged that the N1.9 billion was deducted from contracts that were executed under the Train, Employ and Mentor Programme initiated by a former interim administrator of the Programme, Col. Milland Dikio (rtd).
The statement added that under the programme, the beneficiaries were to be trained, employed and mentored to prevent them from straying after the programme.
“However, when General Barry Ndiomu (retd.) took over, the training of 1,200 delegates was stopped as he was said to have conducted graduation for all of them as he was under instruction to bring the programme to an end.
“Contracts were allegedly renegotiated and the Reintegration Department removed the ‘Employ and Mentor’ component with the promise that the beneficiaries would be outrightly empowered.
“This led to the alleged deduction of funds from the contracts to the tune of N1.9 billion meant to empower the delegates.”
