The Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Paul Boroh has denied reports that the Amnesty office spent N48 billion in five months.

Boroh, who is also the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, disclosed this in an interview on Thursday in Abuja.

He described the reports as nothing but malicious and constructed on a foundation of lies to mislead the public.

He further alleged that contrary to reports that senators were angry with the Amnesty office’ 2015 Budget Status report, it was commended for being prudent.

He added that, the senators noted that the amnesty office returned over 416 million naira unspent funds in the 2015 budget.

“The main claim by the publications that the new administration awarded contracts worth about N48 billion in just five months is false.

“The entire contracts awarded by the Amnesty Office from September to December 2015 amounted to N12.953b.

“Contrary to claims by the publication that the Senators are angry with the Amnesty Office 2015 Budget Status Report, the Senators noted the fact that the Amnesty office returned N416.2m unspent funds in the 2015 Budget.

“Also the claim that there was no money to pay the ex-militants’ tuition and in-training allowances is untrue.

“They said that I ordered students in universities in the UK, US, Canada, UAE, Russia, the Philippines, Belarus and elsewhere abroad, to return back to Nigeria, it is completely false.”

He also claimed that it was untrue that there was no cash to fund the education of the students abroad stating that he had fully paid all the fees of students both abroad and in the country.

Boroh added that the payments were verifiable from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Janeth J