The National Association of Presidential Amnesty Students Worldwide, NAPASW, has lamented the sorry state of students under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
The National President of NAPASW, Comrade Lucky Ukueku, who made this known in an open letter to the Interim Administrator of the programme, Col Milland Dixon Dikio (Rtd), said the students’ community are not pleased with him and might be forced to embark on actions to make their plights known.
The 13-point letter reads below:
“Under your administration, for the first time in the history of the amnesty program, for it not to issue laptops to their beneficiaries and little or nothing was done from the office to salvage the situation for them. They are neglected to their fate.
“First-class students were not honoured and as a programme of continuity the office is supposed to award and encourage them by giving them a job or continuing their programme in the MSc, but no encouragement of such comes from the office.
“A student ITA was held, for agitating to include a group of students and reconsider paying the backlogs, the office owed them. No mercy was shown to the student rather a military approach was taken against him in that regard. “Operation no mercy”.
“Under your administration, any form of unity in the students’ community was shattered and, we are like children without a father. Which has resulted in disunity in the PAP Students Community.
“No physical verification/Assessment of schools facilities.
“No condolences message whenever we lose our fellow students to the cold hand of death. Which suppose to come from a father to his children.
“No special attention to the Students’ community, apart from the payment of their ITA.
“You never give a listening ear to the Student Leadership like previous administrations rather threatened them of what you can do to the students’ community if they buttress their points through civil rights.
“Our fellow students, having a court case with PAP Office is first in the history of the program and if this continues this program will be stopped. Which will be detrimental to the region. An avenue to light up the Niger Delta region by massive education of all birthed through the struggle of our compatriots.
“Africa University issue was neglected.
“Transfer of aggression of an individual, to PAP Students Community.
“Students were threatened with withdrawal from the scholarship scheme for expressing their grievances and promised to make them scapegoats. The global world allowed the criticism of a system in order for the system to birth the reasons why it is constituted, but under your administration, nothing like that is allowed.
“We expected much from you as a students’ community because of your exposure. We wanted the well of awareness you have gathered through life to Better the programme and make it an envy of the world but what we are seeing is the opposite. All the same, the Niger Delta man will always be a Niger Delta man despite the well of information he has.”
