By Festus Ahon

Kingsley Muturu is the Chairman of the Delta State chapter of the Phase Two of the Amnesty Programme. In this interview, he speaks on the need for the Federal Government to create more programmes for youth empowerment, and  support for President Goodluck Jonathan for  second term among other issues.

What is your assessment of the President Jonathan administration and his critics?
Those who have been criticizing President Goodluck Jonathan in the northern part of this country have not been fair to him. Ever since Mr. President was elected in 2011, there have been  killings, maiming and wanton destruction of property in a bid to destabilize the administration.

They have done all manners of things to distract the President from implementing his transformation agenda but that notwithstanding, the President has favoured them much more than the southern part of the country in terms of juicy appointments and infrastructural development.

Even in the Niger Delta, there have been pockets of complaints from the youths, but the truth is that most of the appointees from the region have disappointed the President and all the people. Apart from a few like Kingsley Kuku, most of them have been pursuing their selfish agenda and have deviated from the noble cause  which the President has set for them.

Niger Delta youths should understand that it’s the appointees that are disappointing the people, because the President cannot be everywhere at the same time. I am using this medium to call on the President to flush out those appointees who have been found wanting and replace them with more capable hands.

The President has really done very well even in the face of the security challenges facing his administration. I enjoin all Nigerians, particularly those in the northern part of the country, to support Jonathans  programmes and policies. The President means well for Nigerians, so we should all support him for  second term. The President deserves it and it should be given to him.

We understand that the Amnesty Programme will end in 2015. As an ex-militant leader, what is your take on this?
I don’t see any reason why the Federal Government should stop the Amnesty Programme. In fact, I advise the Federal Government not to stop the Amnesty Programme because if you look at the past and the present, the difference is very clear in terms of peace in the Niger Delta and oil exploration, so they should not stop it because it has been of great benefit to the ex-agitators and the Federal Government.

Most of the boys who did not have hope before now have hope because of the Amnesty Programme. For instance, through the Amnesty Programme, many youths in my community and other communities in the Niger Delta have been empowered.

So what I am saying in a nutshell is that the programme has gone a long way in restoring peace to the Niger Delta, government should do all it can to sustain it. More youths should benefit from the programme so as to effectively tackle the problem of unemployment in the oil bearing communities.

Government should not think of stopping the programme, rather it should fashion out modalities to create more of such programmes for the teeming unemployed youths in this country; if this is done, ugly scenarios like that of the immigration recruitment exercise that led to the death of about 19 persons would be averted.

What is your assessment of the Special Adviser to the President on  Amnesty, Mr. Kingsley Kuku  handling of the programme?
Kingsley Kuku has lived up to expectation in piloting the affairs of over 30,000 ex-militants. He has done exceedingly well and he has been doing his best to carry everyone along and his achievements must be applauded.

He has always seen to it that all the ex-militants go for training in various fields and ensures that their monthly stipends are paid as and when due. Kuku understands the workings of the Amnesty Programme perfectly. Indeed, he is a square peg in a square hole. In fact, President Goodluck Jonathan should be very grateful to Kuku for carrying Niger Delta youths along.

A lot of people have been complaining that the construction work on the East-West Road is very slow. As a Niger Deltan you say you are satisfied with the pace of the project?
I agree with those who are saying the work is slow. The road is very important to the people of the region as it cuts across all the states there. As a road for the people of the region that is the source of the wealth of the country, we expected that it will be given top priority. I am calling on the Federal Government to speed up the work for the use of the people because it is taking too long.

If you observe what is going on with the road carefully, as the contractor leaves one section to the other, the parts already completed will be developing cracks. So government should really really step up its efforts to complete the road.

Apart from that, the people of the riverine communities in the Niger Delta are in dire need of bridges across their areas to enable them access their communities.

The people are suffering untold hardship and they even have to pay cut throat prices as transportation fare in speed boats. It is very expensive to travel  in speed boats and this is biting hard on the people. I am calling on government to look at the direction of these people and do something meaningful for them.