The office of Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to President Muhammadu Buhari, has taken exceptions to a piece of news tilted “Fraud: Buhari’s aide, Prof Dokubo, paid N1.6billion for four hundred wooden canoes,” published by an online platform, Pointblank News, which has gone viral and now a subject of discussion in geopolitical region.
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Though, the office admitted that parts of the story was partially correct in the sense that the empowerment contract covered 400 canoes for Niger Delta Women at N4m per unit cost as reported but said that the huge amount is not only for the wooden boat but inclusive of other accessories like Yamaha 8 Horse Power outboard engine; fishing nets, fishing hooks, safety life jackets, life rings and fire buckets, preservation and storage facilities of fishing products, the rebuttal from the office dripping with abusive languages also said the vendor was paid only 15 per cent of the contract sum as at now but the office in the rebuttal still went ahead to describe the report as rumours and fictions, instead of explaining to the public what the news medium failed to capture in its report.
Below is the unedited labourious attempt at refuting the story.
“The latest reports by Pointblank News on the office and programmes of the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Professor Charles Quaker Dokubo, must be condemned by every sane and patriotic citizen interested in the progress of the Niger Delta people and development of the region.
Why? You may ask. The reasons are not far-fetched.
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 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.
It further alleged that the contract for the supply of the 400 canoes was awarded to Innotek Royal Services at the unit cost of N4m even as its findings revealed that the market price for a wooden canoe is not more than N200,000.00.
While the purpose of this response is not to join issues with Pointblank News and its owners, promoters and funders, 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 fulfillment of the code and ethics of journalism. The obvious misinformation has, therefore, raised a need to correct the lies, fictions and hearsay in Pointblank News reports.
(1) 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. 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.
(2) Though it is true that the unit cost of each canoe is N4m, the contract 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.
(3) Contrary to Pointblank News’ false reports, the vendor was paid only 15 per cent of the contract sum as at now.
It is hoped that Pointblank News will also avail the public through its medium these sacred facts that were omitted from its reports.”
