The management of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) is facing fresh scrutiny over alleged opacity in the disbursement of billions of naira in stipends, the allocation of beneficiary slots and the recognition of former militant camps under the Niger Delta peace initiative.
The Forum Against Niger Delta Exploitation (FANDE), through its spokesman, General Gboloko, has called on the federal government to conduct a comprehensive and independent audit of the programme, warning that unresolved allegations of exclusion and unequal access could undermine the peace the PAP was established to preserve.
Gboloko, in a statement made available to newsmen, said the questions surrounding the PAP had become too significant for the federal government to ignore, particularly in view of the huge public funds committed to the programme.
He said records reportedly obtained from the Federal Government’s GovSpend platform and analysed by Pointblanknews.com indicated that at least ₦88.79 billion was disbursed between 2018 and the first half of 2026 to representatives of various former agitator camps for onward distribution as monthly stipends to registered beneficiaries.
According to the figures cited by him, the disbursements were: 2018 — ₦3.51 billion, 2019 — ₦11.07 billion, 2020 — ₦7.10 billion, 2021 — ₦15.11 billion, 2022 — ₦12.20 billion, 2023 — ₦12.52 billion, 2024 — ₦15.32 billion, 2025 — ₦8.53 billion and First half of 2026 — ₦3.44 billion. The total, according to the statement, stood at ₦88,791,131,022.
Gboloko stressed that the figure, by itself, did not constitute proof of fraud, but argued that the magnitude of the expenditure demanded a level of transparency that would enable Nigerians to independently scrutinise how the money was spent.
“Who received it? Who were the ultimate beneficiaries? How many people were paid? What was the verification process? Were beneficiaries physically verified? Were deceased, duplicate or inactive beneficiaries removed? Who audited the distributions?” he asked.
He also challenged the PAP to publish comprehensive payment schedules showing the camps involved, number of beneficiaries attached to each camp and the amounts disbursed.
Gboloko said the reported expenditure records also contained the names of former militant leaders and camps, including those associated with former militant leader Ebikabowei Victor Ben, popularly known as Boyloaf.
He, however, cautioned against interpreting the appearance of any individual’s name in expenditure records as evidence of wrongdoing.
Rather, he said, the issue that required explanation was the criteria used in recognising camps and determining beneficiary allocations.
“Why are some former leaders associated with multiple recognised camps and substantial beneficiary allocations, while other stakeholders say their own camps and followers were excluded, marginalised or denied meaningful representation?” he asked.
According to him, the PAP should make public the historical records, criteria and verification procedures used to determine recognised camps and beneficiary numbers.
“If the allocation is legitimate, transparent and objectively determined, the PAP should have no difficulty explaining it,” he said.
“If the allocation is based on historical records, the records should be published. If it is based on beneficiary numbers, those numbers should be independently verifiable.”
The FANDE spokesman said the controversy went beyond individual former agitators or the current leadership of the PAP, arguing that the fundamental issue was the structure and accountability framework of the programme.
The Presidential Amnesty Programme was established in 2009 following years of militancy and unrest in the Niger Delta, with the objective of promoting disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of former agitators.
The initiative helped reduce hostilities in the oil-producing region and contributed to restoring relative stability in an area critical to Nigeria’s oil production.
However, Gboloko said a programme created to address grievances over marginalisation must not itself become associated with allegations of exclusion.
“For years, critics and stakeholders have raised concerns about the distribution of slots, beneficiary selection, camp recognition and the concentration of opportunities around certain groups,” he said.
He argued that such allegations should either be disproved with verifiable documents or investigated and corrected where evidence supported them.
According to him, allowing allegations of unequal treatment to persist could create a new class of insiders and outsiders within a programme originally designed to resolve grievances.
The group also raised concerns over the reported ₦115 billion allocation to the Presidential Amnesty Programme in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
Gboloko said the allocation represented a substantial increase from the ₦65 billion earmarked for the programme in each of 2024 and 2025, making the demand for transparency more urgent.
He said the federal government should not simply increase funding without simultaneously strengthening mechanisms for financial accountability, beneficiary verification and independent oversight.
“The accountability question is no longer historical. It is immediate,” he said.
“Before another naira disappears into a system surrounded by controversy, the Federal Government should be asking: Where has the money gone? Who benefited? Who was excluded? Who authorised the payments? Who verified the beneficiaries? Who audited the programme?”
Gboloko identified the controversy over so-called “slots” as another major source of concern.
According to him, some stakeholders have alleged that they were shortchanged during the original 2009 integration process and that their followers have remained excluded from the benefits of the PAP.
While acknowledging that such claims must be independently verified, he warned that government could not afford to dismiss the grievances without proper investigation.
“When a section of a politically sensitive region believes that another section has captured the benefits of a government peace programme, resentment inevitably grows,” he said.
He added that when individuals who believe they were excluded from a peace settlement are denied meaningful avenues for redress, the legitimacy of the settlement itself could be weakened.
“The Niger Delta does not need another cycle of grievance, exclusion and confrontation. It needs fairness. It needs verification. It needs dialogue,” he said.
The group’s most significant demand is for a comprehensive, independent and publicly accessible audit of the PAP.
Gboloko questioned why, nearly two decades after the programme was established, Nigerians were still asking basic questions about beneficiaries, allocations, contracts, training programmes, stipends and measurable outcomes.
He argued that a programme handling billions of naira in public funds could no longer operate without robust public accountability.
“A programme handling public funds at this scale should not function like a black box,” he said.
According to him, the public should not have to depend on leaks, whistleblowers, newspaper investigations or political accusations before information about public expenditure becomes available.
The FANDE spokesman said the controversy should not be reduced to allegations of financial impropriety, stressing that perceived exclusion from a peace programme could have serious national security implications.
“If some stakeholders genuinely believe that the PAP has failed to integrate them fairly, then the Federal Government is not merely facing an accounting problem. It is facing a peace-and-security problem,” he said.
He recalled the history of militancy in the Niger Delta, warning that accumulated grievances could once again threaten stability in the oil-producing region.
According to him, any fresh deterioration in security could affect crude oil production, government revenue, investor confidence and the wider Nigerian economy.
He therefore urged the federal government to treat the issue as both a governance and national security matter.
Gboloko called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order a forensic and independent review of the PAP rather than relying solely on internal administrative mechanisms.
He urged the government to review all major categories of expenditure, camp allocations, beneficiary databases, payment channels, contracts and training programmes.
He also called for an independent verification of beneficiaries and investigation of all credible allegations without regard to the political influence or status of those involved.
“Where wrongdoing is established, the law should take its course regardless of the name, status or political connections of the person involved,” he said.
The group proposed a series of measures which it said would restore public confidence in the programme.
These include publication of the PAP beneficiary framework, criteria for camp recognition, slot allocations, number of beneficiaries attached to each recognised camp, amounts disbursed, verification methodology and audit reports.
It also called for an examination of claims by communities and former agitator groups that they were excluded from the original integration process.
Gboloko said transparency would ultimately strengthen rather than weaken the programme.
“If the PAP is clean, transparency will strengthen it. If mistakes were made, transparency will expose them. If there are abuses, transparency will uncover them,” he said.
He maintained that the government should not be afraid of scrutiny if the programme was being administered properly.
The Presidential Amnesty Programme was conceived against the backdrop of longstanding grievances over resource control, underdevelopment, environmental degradation, political exclusion and the perceived marginalisation of oil-producing communities.
Gboloko said it would therefore amount to a historic contradiction if a programme created to resolve such grievances became associated with allegations of a new system of exclusion.
He argued that the current controversy provided the government with an opportunity to undertake institutional reforms that could strengthen the programme and preserve peace in the Niger Delta.
According to him, the solution was not necessarily to abolish the PAP or simply increase its funding, but to ensure that its operations were transparent, verifiable and capable of producing measurable outcomes.
“The government must therefore confront the uncomfortable possibility that the PAP requires more than additional funding. It requires institutional surgery,” he said.
Gboloko summarised the group’s demands in five key areas: audit the PAP, open the books, review the slots, verify the beneficiaries and investigate credible allegations.
He warned that failure to address the concerns could create fresh grievances in a region that had already experienced the devastating consequences of prolonged agitation.
“The Presidential Amnesty Programme was created to end a conflict—not to create a new class system,” he said.
He urged the federal government to act before allegations of exclusion and lack of transparency evolve into wider political and security grievances.
“Because if a peace programme becomes a source of fresh grievance, then Nigeria is not solving the Niger Delta problem. It is simply postponing the next crisis.”
He consequently appealed to President Tinubu to treat the allegations as an early warning and initiate a transparent review before frustration becomes confrontation and threatens the stability of Nigeria’s oil-producing region.
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