SOCIO-POLITICAL IMPACT OF AMNESTY PROGRAMME ON THE NIGER DELTA AREA IN NIGERIAN STATE. (original) (raw)

Abstract The Niger delta region of Nigeria, reputed to be one of the most richly endowed delta’s inthe world, contributes about 80% of Nigeria’s national wealth. Years of political andeconomic marginalization, environmental degradation, bad governance and policyinconsistency by the government, and the divide and rule policy of the oil companies ledto emergence of militancy in the Niger delta in the early 2006. The various activities ofmilitants have created a state of general insecurity in the region. The persistent neglect was to result in unrests by thepeople of the area, which eventually almost got out of hand. Long years of neglect and conflict have promoted,especially among youths a feeling of a bleak future, and thus see conflict as a stratagem to escape deprivation. The paper argues that themethods of operation of the militants, which includes kidnapping and hostage taking, blowing/shutting down of oil installationsand facilities, setting off of car bombs, and illegal oil bunkering has negatively impacted Nigeria’s economic development. The government not able to bear the embarrassment and the drop in daily oil production, coupled with the substantial loss of revenues devised the amnesty programme in 2009 as solution to the quagmire. The paper is aimed at examining the circumstances causing the crisis situation in the area, and the attendant consequences to the people of the areas and to the global community, the various effort and programmes of the government in curbing the situation, it attempt the critical analysis of the amnesty programme initiated by the Federal government, its impact at ensuring and restoring durable peace back to the region, it discusses some of the challenges to amnesty programme, it drives out appropriate recommendations as to how the crisis will be given a permanent rest and peace be fully restored to the region of Niger Delta. The study adopted the Marxian political economy approach as its theoretical construct, and used it, in the content analysis of the secondary data on the subject matter. Materials for this paper has been drawn mainly from secondary sources found in libraries and archives in Nigeria, in general and in the Niger Delta in particular; academic and other resources available in the internet, local and international publications. Keywords: amnesty, Niger delta, Oil exploration, pollution, Multinational Corporation, Derivation, Militancy, impact, insecurity, Nigeria.