From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro, has encouraged students under the Programme’s foreign scholarship scheme to justify the Federal Government’s investment in them by taking their studies seriously.
Otuaro gave the advice during his meeting with the PAP scholarship students currently studying in the United Kingdom on Sunday.
On Monday, Otuaro said in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Igoniko Oduma, that much was expected from the students in their academic performance to justify the Federal Government’s investment in their education.
Otuaro told them that the PAP scholarship scheme had produced graduates who made first-class and second-class upper divisions in competitive disciplines, including the sciences and clinical sciences.
He urged them to sustain the story of academic excellence by their counterparts back home in the foreign country.
He says many PAP graduates are doing well in their post-graduation endeavours and contributing significantly to national growth and development.
The PAP boss stated that his administration was putting measures in place to make the scholarship scheme more robust to bridge the human capacity gap in the Niger Delta.
Otuaro said he would continually prioritize the scholarship and welfare of students studying in Nigerian and foreign universities under the ongoing reintegration phase of the programme.
He said this was in tandem with the vision of President Bola Tinubu for the peace, security, stability, and socio-economic development of the Niger Delta, as encapsulated in his Renewed Hope Agenda.
Otuaro stated that Tinubu was delighted by the success stories and the sterling academic performances of the programme’s scholarship students at home and abroad.
He thanked the President for his favourable disposition to the Office and his efforts to foster the transformation of the Niger Delta through his Renewed Hope Agenda.
Otuaro, therefore, urged the students to be good ambassadors of the PAP, their respective communities, the Niger Delta, and the Federal Government, by shunning negative acts that would bring a bad reputation to the country as a whole.
“We will always prioritize your scholarship and welfare because this is one avenue through which we can achieve our goal of closing the existing gap in the human capital development of our region.
“Let me take this opportunity to inform you that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very happy with the fact that PAP scholarship students are making first-class and second-class upper divisions in various courses of study, particularly in the sciences, engineering, and clinical sciences.
“Therefore, the Niger Delta is properly captured in Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which is why he is very supportive of the Office in terms of the educational and vocational programmes we carry out to deepen the reintegration phase of the programme for the benefit of our people.
In their reaction, the students expressed gratitude to the PAP boss for visiting them and prioritizing their scholarship and welfare.