We will resist online verification of ex-N/Delta agitators, NDAGGEJ dares Presidential Amnesty Office

The Niger Delta Advocates for Good Governance and Environmental Justice, NDAGGEJ, has threatened to resist online students’ verification of ex-Niger Delta agitators, posted to study in Nigerian Universities by the Interim Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, saying payment of their In-training allowance, without physical or on ground verification is unacceptable.

In a press statement signed by its Coordinator, Media and Publicity, Comrade Jonathan Ebi, NDAGGEJ, explained that it was irrational for the Presidential Amnesty Office to: “Expect all the students, some of them who live mostly in the remotest part of the riverine areas of the Niger Delta, where there is hardly GSM network to have access to the internet or I. T. facility for online verification”. 

The statement dated Wednesday October 28, emphasized: “We have instances, where most of the students weren’t able to upload their documents, while amongst the very few that were able to submit, some students’ documents were rejected on the grounds that it should be resubmitted, which they couldn't do as a result of bad internet network or totally lack of I.T facility, until the time elapsed”.

While insisting that the Presidential Amnesty Office cannot rely on the, “minor 1,380 students captured in the online verification, when students were all at home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of schools in Nigeria”, for payment of the in-training allowance, NDAGGEJ, averred: “Our position remains that the Presidential Amnesty Office, should immediately go on ground from institution to institution, to verify the students presently studying in them.

The group appealed for the payment of in-training allowance of students deployed in the 2017/2018 academic session, “because agreeing to pay their school fees and accommodation alone, is having a grievous negative effect, which have brought untold hardship that is affecting their overall academic concentration and performance”.

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