Otuaro Charges Presidential Amnesty Students on Consistent Academic Excellence Disquiet Over Worsening Insecurity, Killer Herders’ Indvasion of Makurdi Metropolis
The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro, has charged students under the Amnesty scholarship scheme to intensify efforts to sustain their record of academic excellence in their universities.
Otuaro spoke on Thursday, when he visited the PAP scholarship students at Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo; Western Delta University, Oghara, and Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, Agbarha-Otor, all in Delta State.
He had earlier visited PAP scholarship students at Igbinedion University, Okada, and Benson Idahosa University, Benin, all in Edo State, as part of his tour of partnering institutions to interact with the management and the students, on Wednesday.
Otuaro, who was inundated with the beautiful record of academic performance by students under the PAP scholarship scheme, stressed that the positive reports would only encourage the government to do more to invest in human capacity development.
In a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr Igoniko Oduma, Otuaro stated that this was in line with the policy of the Tinubu administration to channel the human resources in the oil-rich Niger Delta to productive activities as part of the sustained efforts to promote peace for economic growth in the area.
Otuaro, who was briefed differently by the vice-chancellors of the three institutions, promised that PAP would provide the necessary support to brilliant and serious-minded students under the scheme who might want to study for a Master's degree if they can secure admission.
He said, “Formal education is a critical aspect of this programme. We have produced many students who have First Class and Second Class Upper while others made distinctions at the post-graduate level.
“These excellent grades are a very encouraging way of bridging the human capacity development gap in the Niger Delta. I hold the view strongly that formal education would offer self-reliance and higher chances of success to 80 percent of beneficiaries.
The resurgent activities of killer herdsmen, especially in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, who kidnap, kill and destroy farmlands are threatening the peace of the state.
At the just concluded All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders meeting hosted by Governor Hyacinth Alia at Government House in Makurdi, he raised the alarm that the activities of killer herders have posed a threat to nine local government areas in Benue State in which residents could no longer go for their legitimate farming activities for fear of attacks and killing.
Admitting that he cannot do it alone, Governor Alia urged Benue State stakeholders to synergise to find common solutions to the disturbing scenario. He listed the local government areas under serious threat, including Kwande, Logo, Ukum, Guma, Makurdi, Gwer East, Gwer West, Agatu and Oturkpo, among others.
At the meeting, Alia listed the efforts that his government has made since assumption of duty on May 29, 2023, to tackle insecurity, especially the activities of herders who flout the Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition Law of Benue State 2017, noting that the unknown gunmen's aim was to grab land, maim and kill.
The governor, therefore, appealed to the Nigeria Police to help the state get rid of the unknown gunmen who are currently occupying ancestral homes and lands of persons displaced as a result attacks in nine local government areas in the state.
"My government is committed to ending food insecurity in the state and beyond by enabling farmers to return to their farmlands to cultivate. By your posting to Benue, there is hope in town that you continue to keep our lives and democracy safe,” he said.
A peep into the activities of killer herdsmen in the state indicates that Terwase Orbunde, the Chief of Staff to former Governor Samuel Ortom, was attacked by suspected herdsmen on Friday, April 12, 2024, close to the Genabe Cemetery, along Mobile BarracksWelfare Quarters Road in Makurdi. He sustained injuries in the process, while his wife, Abigail, and their housemaid, Patience Ogute, were kidnapped during the attack.
The kidnappers demanded a ransom of N100 million for their release. However, Mrs. Orbunde and her maid regained their freedom on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, after an undisclosed amount was paid as ransom to their abductors.