IPF Backs PAP Boss, Otuaro’s Transformative Leadership

By Tessy Ogbemi 

The Ijaw Publishers Forum (IPF), a group media practitioners has declared support for the leadership of High Chief (Dr.) Dennis Burutu Otuaro, Ph.D., the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), citing transparency, accountability, and tangible reforms as hallmarks of his administration.

Addressing journalists during a World Press Conference in Warri, the Forum described itself as a body “committed to truth, balance, and fairness,” emphasizing that its allegiance lies “not to individuals or politics, but to the people and progress of the Niger Delta.”

“We commend and defend good leadership wherever it is found particularly among Ijaw sons and daughters who have distinguished themselves in service,” said Comrade Ozobo Austin, President of the Ijaw Publishers Forum, while reading the communiqué.

Since his appointment by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on March 14, 2024, Dr. Otuaro has, according to the IPF, “revived confidence, restored focus, and repositioned the PAP for genuine empowerment of Niger Deltans.”

The Forum outlined several key achievements under his stewardship adding that Otuaro's administration has moved the PAP away from mere payment of stipends to ex-agitators, focusing instead on broad-based human capital and capacity development initiatives.

Over 140 scholars have been deployed overseas, notably to the United Kingdom and South Africa, under the revived PAP scholarship programme a key stride toward rebuilding the intellectual base of the region.