TENSION is currently in the Niger Delta region over the non-payment of annual Transitional Safety Allowances of N150,000 to each of the 30,000 ex-agitators under the Presidential Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government.
The aggrieved former creek militants are complaining that the PAP office had not paid them the TSA allowances for the past 108 months.
One of the angry ex-agitators, who pleaded anonymity because of his safety, said, “They (the PAP office) have been putting this allowance (of N150,000) per beneficiary in their budget every year. After the payment of the allowances in 2011, they stopped paying us. We don’t know what’s happening.”
The former creek fighter, who trained in welding and fabrication at the National Vocational Training Institute, Ghana, explained that the N65,000 comprised N20,000 stipend and daily feeding allowance of N1,500 which amounted to N45,000, making it a total of N65,000.
He said the ex-agitators were not happy that “nobody is talking; even our leaders are not showing any concern about our welfare”, stressing that the PAP office and the Presidency were taking them for granted.
