Amnesty budget less than five days' oil revernue

'To put the record straight, the Amnesty Programme has received just N243 billion since its inception and not N400 billion or N260 billion that is currently making the rounds in a section of the media.

'In fact, we have noticed that in an attempt to inflate figures purportedly allocated to the Amnesty Programme, certain desperate politicians and their allies have formed the habit of collating the budgets of the Niger Delta Development Commission and that of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and lumped them up as what has been earmarked for the Amnesty Programme.

'This is not only malicious but also a calculated attempt to incite Nigerians and the international community against the Amnesty programme and its beneficiaries.'

Kuku also said that it was untrue that ex-militants were the ones running the NNPC pipeline surveillance contracts in the Niger Delta, insisting that the contracts, which were terminated at the expiration of one year, were given to limited liability companies and not ex-militants as claimed in certain quarters.