We’ll Not Settle For Mediocrity – Col. Dikio (Rtd)

The Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, has said that it will not settle for mediocrity in its scholarship scheme, even as it continues with its mission to transform ex-agitators into well-educated entrepreneurs and employable citizens who can contribute meaningfully to the economic prosperity of the Niger Delta region and the nation at large. 

To this end, the PAP came up with a new policy mandating every prospective scholarship candidate to take the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examinations (JAMB) as one of the criteria to qualify for PAP scholarship.

A statement from the office signed by the Special Assistant to the Interim Administrator, Nneotaobase Egbe, urged delegates and all stakeholders to get onboard the train of success. 
The Interim Administrator, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (Rtd), appealed for calm from those opposing the JAMB policy, saying that it was not only vital for the personal, intellectual, and mental growth and development of the delegate, it was also crucial to the development and economic growth of the Niger Delta. 

He further explained that the PAP is focused on ensuring that beneficiaries of PAP scholarship are able to compete for placement in the best universities and primed to be major players in the knowledge-based world. 

Decrying the gradual decline of the university system in Nigeria, Col. Dikio said it is imperative for the Programme to be more intentional about the kind of talent it churns out into the society. 

“What is the Amnesty deal? Does it equate mediocrity? Our universities are turning out an army of unskilled unemployable adults into a labour market bursting at the seams.”

“Even worse, evidence abounds that 80% of the current recipients of PAP scholarship are not ex-agitators. This is a major anomaly that must be corrected. We have designed our deployment process to ensure that 70% of delegates for scholarship must be ex-agitators whose names are in our database, 20% will be from Niger Delta impacted communities and 10% will be discretionary”.

“Thus, those who cannot go to the university will be given vocational training.”

The Administrator cited the examples of ex-militant leader, High Chief Bibopere Ajube alias ‘Shoot at Sight’ and a host of others, who did not have the so-called vaunted ‘university education’ as leading lights of industry and employers of labour. 

He also said that the intention of the PAP is to align to best practices for university admission, give scholarships to those who have a high potential to graduate, eliminate favouritism and scholarship rackets.

Recall that the PAP was set up to drive massive manpower and capacity development in the Niger Delta region, hence encourage foreign and local investments while mitigating the security issues at the same time. The PAP leadership is committed to restoring this mandate of the Programme to its original intent.