The immediate past Bayelsa Governor Seriake Dickson has congratulated Col. Milland Dikio (retd.) on his appointment as the new Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
A statement by his Media Advisor, Mr Fidelis Soriwei, on Sunday, also quoted the former governor as commending President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing another Ijaw son into the sensitive position.
He described the President’s decision to retain the position in Ijaw land in spite of the pressures as thoughtful and encouraging since Ijaw youths are the predominant participants of the Amnesty programme.
Dickson urged the new Amnesty boss to take advantage of his enviable experience as a senior military officer of sterling record to unite the ex-agitators and promote peace and stability in the region.
He said he was not in any doubt that with his experience as a manager of security and human resources within and outside Nigeria in sensitive capacities (in and out of the military) that the Dikio would succeed with the cooperation of all.
He added that while he and majority of stakeholders expected the position to move to another state, all Niger Delta stakeholders should set aside their differences to support Dikio in the collective interest of the people now that the appointment had been made.
The former governor, who urged Dikio to give the deserved attention to the training and provision of opportunities for self-employment to the youth of the area, advised him to engage all stakeholders in no distant time on how best he could improve on the programme, and make its impact more visible and sustainable.
Dickson called on all ex-agitators, youth leaders and others critical stakeholders to support the new Amnesty boss in his new position.
In a related development, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) lauded President Muhammadu Buhari over Dikio’s appointment.
The umbrella body for Ijaw youths said the appointment had put to rest the mischievous move by some politicians calling for the scrapping of the Amnesty programme.
The organisation called on Buhari to make the appointment permanent and substantive to avoid limited power to administer the Amnesty Office.
National President of the IYC, Mr Peter Igbifa, said the appointment of Dikio showed that President Buhari is a good listener who heeded the calls of patriotic Niger Deltans.
He said despite moves by some mischief makers who wanted a programme that had sustained peace and maximised oil production in the country to be abruptly scrapped, “the President has once again shown his commitment to peace in the Niger Delta region.”
Igbifa commended Buhari for heeding the voices of stakeholders from the region, especially the IYC, by appointing Dikio.