Okorocha inaugurates amnesty Committee on repentant militants, cancels MoU between host communities

Following the surrendering of arms and embracing of peace by Avenger militants fighting in the oil producing areas of Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta in Imo, the State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha today, inaugurated the Amnesty Committee, and two others, including the committee on the Review of the Activities and Infrastructural Development of state owned Higher Institutions, and the Technical committee for the take-off of the Eastern Palm University, Ogboko, Imo State. The committee members have also been briefed by the governor on their terms of reference. And to demonstrate the importance of the Amnesty Committee, the Governor appointed the first lady of the state, Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha as chairman, while the Transition Committee chairmen of the oil producing local government areas of Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta, the Assembly members from the two state constituencies, the managing director of Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC) and the Special Assistant to the Governor on Niger Delta are members. In the terms of reference to the Amnesty Committee, the governor charged them to come up with programmes and ideas that would ensure the sustenance of the peace recently restored in the oil producing areas of Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta. The governor equally asked the committee to address all the issues the repented militants had raised when they surrendered including allegations that the oil companies operating in the areas have been igniting some of these troubles for their own selfish reasons. The committee would therefore define what should be the role of the oil companies in the areas and to make them stop igniting crises in the areas. It was also discovered from the testimonies of the born-again militants that some of the Traditional rulers from the areas are also culpable considering their roles in the crisis that enveloped the oil producing areas, equally for their own selfish reasons. For that reason, the governor cancelled all the memorandum of understanding (MoU) the communities or Traditional rulers must have entered into with the oil companies, with the governor also directing that the government must be aware of any such MoU from now onward. The Amnesty committee was also asked to write to the oil companies not to deal with the communities or traditional rulers again without the approval of the State Government, with the Committee also directed to meet with all the relevant bodies and persons. The Amnesty Committee was also directed to work towards ensuring that the names of the militants who surrendered their guns and embraced peace are removed from any record or list of militants, organize medical tours in the oil producing areas and ensure special employment of one thousand Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta Youths into the State Civil Service. The Amnesty committee has three months to submit its report. The Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Acho Ihim is the chairman of the committee on the Review of the Activities and Infrastructural Development on state owned higher institutions, with fifteen others as members. The committee has also been asked to review the movement of certain faculties and departments of the Imo State University to Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala campus of the University. The committee was also charged to reconsider the location of the Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) and its viability in Orlu and the location of the main campus of the University in the State Capital, with the committee expected to find out whether IMSUTH won’t be more useful to our people if located in Owerri. And whether it is not more advisable to take the main campus of IMSU to a more serene location suitable for university education and where it would have the opportunity of expanding as time goes on. The committee has been given three weeks to submit its report. The Technical Committee for the Take-off of the Eastern Palm University at Ogboko built through Public and Private Partnership (PPP) has Ambassador Nonye Rajis Opara as chairman and the committee has six other members. The work of the committee is to ensure the smooth take-off of the university. The committee would also go for churches or organizations that were given money and lands by the State Government to encourage them establish private universities, but up till now, such organizations have not done anything to that effect. The governor charged the members of the committees to demonstrate high level of patriotism in carrying out these assignments, in the overall interest of the state and her people.