The Presidential Amnesty Office has
dismissed speculations that it has cancelled its students’ scholarship scheme.
The Special Assistant, Media, to the
Interim Administrator, Mr. Freston Akpor, said in a statement on Saturday that
the PAP has not announced any outright cancellation of the scholarship scheme.
The PAP Spokesman restated an earlier
statement of the office which announced a temporary suspension of the programme
due to the huge debt profile of the scheme.
He stressed that the recent scholarship
award carried out by previous leaderships of the agency were done without
necessary budgetary consideration and planning with its attendant effects on
the agency’s financial management.
Akpor noted that the leadership of PAP
appreciates the place of education in the development of the Niger Delta and
would do all to ensure the creation of opportunities for formal education for
beneficiaries in the region.
“The attention of the Presidential Amnesty
Programme (PAP) has been drawn to contents trending on various social media
platforms with a rumoured outright cancellation of the students’ scholarship
scheme by the Programme.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the PAP had
not at any time announced the cancellation of the scholarship scheme to
eligible beneficiaries.
“According to an official statement issued
by the PAP on 06/01/2023 which clearly emphasized that the Presidential Amnesty
Programme scholarship scheme has temporarily been placed on hold due to
financial constraints occasioned by the huge debt profile associated with the
Formal Education component of the programme.
“Evidently, the recent award of
scholarships (not by the present management) were done without recourse to
budgetary considerations and efficient financial planning thus having an
adverse effect on the organisation's balance sheet.
“It will therefore defy any logical
reasoning on the part of the PAP office to commence award of fresh scholarships
without adequately restructuring it's current debts and effectively planning
it's available resources vis-a-vis intended new programs.
“The PAP under it's current leadership
recognizes and acknowledges the importance of education to the growth and
development of the Niger Delta and will therefore not relent in doing
everything possible to ensure that formal education opportunities are made
available to beneficiaries of the PAP,” he said
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