Admin l Friday, September 27, 2019
LAGOS, Nigeria – Office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme(PAP) has debunked rumour circulating on the social media that the office purchased 400 wooden canoes for the sum of N1.6 billion.
In a statement, Head of Media in the office, Mr. Sebastine Usifo Ebhuomhan described the story published by an online medium as nothing but total falsehood that must be condemned by every sane and patriotic citizen interested in the progress of the Niger Delta people and development of the region.
“Pointblank News, an online media that has become notorious for dishing out spurious, unverified and concocted reports on the Presidential Amnesty Programme, falsely claimed that Professor Charles Quaker Dokubo spent N1.6bn on 400 wooden canoes at the cost of N4m per canoe as empowerment tools for 400 hundred Niger Delta women and that he gave out only 100 canoes at the empowerment ceremony this week”, he said.
The report, PAP said further alleged that the contract for the supply of 400 canoes was awarded to Innotek Royal Services at the unit cost of N4 million even as its findings revealed that the market price for a wooden canoe is not more than N200,000.00.
He explained that while the purpose of the response is not to join issues with the newspaper, its owners, promoters and funders, he said it is important for the medium to always balance its reports on activities of the Presidential Amnesty Programme with objectivity and facts, instead of rumours and fictions, in fulfilment of the code and ethics of journalism.
“The obvious misinformation has, therefore, raised a need to correct the lies, fictions and hearsays in Pointblank News reports.
” While it is true, as reported, that the empowerment contract covered 400 canoes, it is not true that only 100 women were to be empowered as Pointblank News falsely reported. The empowerment ceremony that held this week in Warri, Delta State, is the flag-off or first phase for beneficiaries.
“As you will agree, there is no way 400 canoes can be gathered at a single point of distribution to beneficiaries that are spread across seven (7) states and numerous communities scattered across riverine and coastal areas”, he said, noting that the remaining 300 canoes will be distributed to beneficiaries at the next phase(s) of the empowerment programme that will be held at other places.
The PAP office further explained that though the unit cost of each canoe is N4 million, the contract however covers much more than a wooden canoe as Pointblank News fraudulently reported.
“The contract for the empowerment of 400 Niger Delta women in coastal fishing under the Presidential Amnesty Programme covers: modern fishing boats powered by a Yamaha 8 Horse Power outboard engine; fishing nets, fishing hooks, safety life jackets, life rings and fire buckets. Furthermore, it covers the preservation and storage facilities of fishing products”, he said.
He explained that contrary to the false reports, the vendor was paid only 15 per cent of the contract sum as at now. He called on the newspaper to avail members of the public these sacred facts that were omitted from the reports.
