The civilianisation of ex-combatants of the Niger Delta: Progress and challenges in reintegration (original) (raw)
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The armed conflict between militias and government forces in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region has spanned for more than two decades, defying all solutions. A disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) program was established in August 2009 in effort to end the violence and has remained in place. It is a radically different approach from past approaches that displayed zero tolerance to all political challenges to oil production or the allocation of oil profits. The approach appeared to be immediately successful in that it forced a ceasefire, engaged militants in planned programs to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into civilian society, and opened up the oil wells (many of which had been shut due to the crisis) with the effect of increasing government revenue, which depends 85% on oil exports. Yet, few studies have attempted to understand the dynamics within the country that are responsible for the design and implementation of this broad policy shift or to understand whether and how the current initiative is able to end the conflict and institute peace beyond the short term. This study, therefore, is important because it provides a critical perspective that anticipates and explains emerging issues with the Niger Delta Amnesty Program, which have implications for DDR adaptation and implementation all over the world. Ultimately, the research demonstrates how the DDR program both transforms the Niger Delta conflict and becomes embroiled in intense contestations not only about the mechanism for transforming the targeted population but also whether and how the program incorporates women who are being deprioritized by the program.
The armed conflict between militias and government forces in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region has spanned for more than two decades, defying all solutions. A disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) program was established in August 2009 in effort to end the violence and has remained in place. It is a radically different approach from past approaches that displayed zero tolerance to all political challenges to oil production or the allocation of oil profits. The approach appeared to be immediately successful in that it forced a ceasefire, engaged militants in planned programs to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into civilian society, and opened up the oil wells (many of which had been shut due to the crisis) with the effect of increasing government revenue, which depends 85% on oil exports. Yet, few studies have attempted to understand the dynamics within the country that are responsible for the design and implementation of this broad policy shift or to understand whether and how the current initiative is able to end the conflict and institute peace beyond the short term. This study, therefore, is important because it provides a critical perspective that anticipates and explains emerging issues with the Niger Delta Amnesty Program, which have implications for DDR adaptation and implementation all over the world. Ultimately, the research demonstrates how the DDR program both transforms the Niger Delta conflict and becomes embroiled in intense contestations not only about the mechanism for transforming the targeted population but also whether and how the program incorporates women who are being deprioritized by the program.
War-to-Peace Transition in the Niger Delta: Is Amnesty Working
Civil disobedience in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria had been a threat to the cooperate existence of Nigeria since the late 1960s and particularly in the early 2000s when several non-state actors became very active in resistance struggles against the Federal Government and multinational oil companies. A lot of peacebuilding programmes had consequently been implemented to curtail activities of militants in the area. The Amnesty Programme been implemented since 2009 for armed militants was the Nigerian Government's strategy to demilitarize the region and integrate ex-agitators into civil life after several years of combat engagement in order to allow for immediate and massive socioeconomic reconstruction. The ex-combatants had deposited huge quantity of weapons as sign of peacemaking in that conflict-ridden region of Nigeria which in turn have reduced active and sustained physical combat. The Amnesty and peacebuilding programme ushered a regime of fragile peace, though did not translate into a better life for majority of the region's people for their grievances are still unaddressed. The objective of the work is to discuss the practical implementation of the Amnesty Programme, the challenges encountered, achievements made and areas of weaknesses. Lasting peace remains elusive, as renewed violence has began to cast shadows on the progress on the DDR front, and continue to raise questions on the prospect for sustainability of the tentative peace induced by the Amnesty in the region.
This paper intends to examine peace building efforts in post-conflict Niger Delta. The conflict which has affected oil production in Nigeria. This is also because oil is the main stay and a major source of energy in Nigeria. The study tends to look at the method, causes and assessment of the amnesty programme. The study covers a time frame between 2009 to 2015. The qualitative method is adopted and the use of secondary data will be employed for data generation and analysis as well. This study will reveal individual or group involved in the conflict. It will further proved that persistent neglect, deprivation and marginalization without development or compensation, high level of unemployment, environment degradation, uneven resource distribution and lack of basic amnesty. It was these problems that led to the emergence of militancy in the region for the past years. The study also reveal an attempt made by successive Nigeria Government to establish different commission to look into the Niger Delta issue, the DDR programme, security implications and its challenges in the Niger Delta clearly indicate that until the root cause of the region is achieved there will not be enduring peace, security and stability in the environment.
Amnesty for peace in the Niger Delta : political settlement, transitional justice and peace building
2016
This monograph is one of the final outputs of the research project of the Centre for Population and Environmental Development (CPED) titled "Amnesties for Peace in the Niger Delta: a critical assessment of whether forgiving crimes of the past contributes to lasting peace" the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) under its Governance, Security and Justice program and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The overall objective of the study is to critically interrogate the amnesty and the political settlement leading to it, in terms of perceptions, discourses and conversations that undergird it; the nature of bargains, understanding and consensus constructed around it; the content and methods of the Amnesty; the nature of inclusiveness, equity, justness and gender sensitivity; the levels of legitimacy and sustainability of the settlement; the challenges of compliance, implementation and accountability, and the impacts on violence mitigation, conflict resolution, peace building and state building. We are particularly grateful to the Governance, Security and Justice Program of IDRC and the Carnegie Corporation of New York for the support to CPED which has enabled the Centre to carry out the study and the publication of this policy document.
Effectiveness of Nigeria's Amnesty Programme in Peace Restoration in the Niger Delta
The declaration of amnesty to the Niger Delta militants by the Federal Government was seen as a roadmap to restore peace in the region. Thus, this study was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of the amnesty programme in restoring and promoting sustainable peace in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The study was conducted in four local government areas of Delta State. Data were collected through the administration of questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Using a survey research design, 1407 questionnaires which served as the sample size of this study were distributed but 1370 were retrieved and used for data analysis. Also, 75 indepth interviews and four focus group discussions comprising 10 participants each were conducted for the study. The quantitative data were analysed using percentages and cross tabulations (SPSS software), while the qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. The data analysed revealed that there is no connection between the amnesty programme and sustainable peace in the Niger Delta; the amnesty programme has not resolved the Niger Delta conflict; peace has not returned to the Niger Delta since amnesty and the programme has led to the uprising of new militants in the region. Based on these findings, we recommended that the amnesty programme should be all embracing and it should continue until sustainable peace is achieved in the region, the unemployed youths should be identified for engagement in skill acquisition and empowerment programme while those ex-militants that have been trained should be employed to dissuade them from falling back to militancy and the infrastructural and developmental deficiencies of the region should urgently be tackled by the Federal, State and Local Government in collaboration with the oil companies operating in the region.
An Evaluation of the Presidential Amnesty Programme in Nigeria’s Niger Delta Region
WILBERFORCE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2018
In 2009, the Federal Government of Nigeria granted Amnesty to ex-militants that haad been involved in armed violence in the Niger Delta. The implementation of various aspects of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) indicated that it offered ex-militants the opportunity to participate in the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) and post-amnesty trainings in on-shore and off-shore. The amnesty programme led to the withdrawal of weapons, de-escalation of violent conflict and restoration of relative peace and security, improved oil production as well as rehabilitation and reintegration of the ex-militants into normal societal life. The outcome of this study revealed that the amnesty programme was bedeviled with faulty foundation, lack of fund, corruption, none involvement of other stakeholders such as communities, oil companies and official armed agents. This rather intensified the struggle for community leadership between ex-militants and other community members in t...
An Assessment Of The Amnesty Programme Implementation In The Niger Delta Of Nigeria (2009-2011)
2011
One of the most current and topical issues within the context of peace and conflict resolution in Nigeria, borders on the lingering militancy and the subsequent President Yar"Adua"s (2008) amnesty programme in Niger Delta. The objective of this paper is to unravel the puzzles behind the fact that, in spite of the on-going amnesty implementation, the region is still entangled by militancy insurrection. The paper adopted the methodology of secondary sources of data, hypothesizing in the process that there are constraining factors inhibiting the effectiveness of the amnesty programme. The findings of the study established that, the amnesty programme is regrettably too petite on the imperative developmental requirements, for redressing the demands of the region.