The Niger Delta Amnesty Program: Challenges of Transitioning from Peace Settlements to Long-Term Peace (original) (raw)
Related papers
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.
Paths to Peacebuilding: Amnesty and the Niger Delta Violence
2011
This mixed-method analysis of three Nigerian states explores the ways in which a major policy shift has produced short-term peace outcomes in a vastly contested terrain entailing conflicting interests. The central argument of "Paths to Peacebuilding," is that disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration can create peace in resource-conflicted societies when there is governmental will and community and citizen involvement in both the design and implementation of the program. The overriding concern was whether the DDR process was capable of contributing to tangible improvements in real and perceived safety on the ground as well as destroying the structures that both contributed to and sustained insurgency for over two decades. The disarmament process yielded over 3,000 semiand fully automatic weapons and other military style hardware. It also resulted in the demobilization of over 26,000 former fighters. The DDR program generated important but geographically differentiated...
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.
The Niger Delta Crisis: Taming Violence beyond the Amnesty
2013
The declaration of Amnesty to the Niger Delta Militants by the Federal Government of Nigeria was acknowledged as the needed roadmap to the Niger Delta crisis. It was expected to draw out the militants from the creeks for skill acquisition training and rehabilitation, end violence and pave the way for a comprehensive development of the long neglected Niger Delta Region (NDR). Despite the seemingly overwhelming acceptance of the package by the militants, trademarks of violence reminiscent of the pre-amnesty era are still the lots of the NDR. Against this background, this study was undertaken with the objective of investigating the factors that are responsible for the renewed violence in the region with a view to finding solutions. Using a survey design, we administered questionnaire on 293 ex-militants to elicit information on their socio-demographic background, belief in amnesty, fear about amnesty, perception of amnesty by deserters, as well as the push and pull factors to militancy...
Beyond Amnesty: Rethinking Government's Stabilisation Efforts in the Niger Delta
Cogent Arts and Humanities , 2023
In 2009, President Umaru Yar'Adua granted amnesty to militant groups in the Niger Delta. This came after a decade of insurgency within Nigeria's oil-rich region. Amnesty was strategically designed to deescalate further confrontation with militants, curb the proliferation of small arms, stop kidnapping and limit the destruction of oil and gas installations. Amnesty was also aimed at disarming, demobilising and reintegration militants into civil society. To what extent has amnesty shaped the region and of what consequence? This study examined the multi-layered drivers of crisis within the Niger-Delta. It then investigated the appropriateness of amnesty in the region using semi-structured interviews. As its main finding, deplorable conditions that sparked unrest in the region still persist, evoking growing discontent in several communities. The paper recommends sustainable policies and programs through which communities, oil companies and the region at large can benefit immensely.
2010
This policy research monograph is part of the ongoing research of the Centre for Population and Environmental Development (CPED) on the research theme titled "Conflict and Development in Nigeria's Niger Delta region" in the current strategic plan (2010-2014) of the Centre. The region has been immersed in agitation, protests and struggles against perceived injustice, inequality, disinheritance, marginalization and neglect. The protests have been so broad, intense and militant that in 1966 and between 1998 and 2009, the region slipped into periodic insurrection and insurgency. Unfortunately, the federal governments' law and order and therefore securitization of its approach and management of the struggles, largely militarized the region, turned it into a huge garrisoned command, and made it the scene of the most large-scale and prolonged military operation since the Nigerian civil war. Intense conflicts and confrontations between the Nigerian state and the transnational oil companies on the one hand and the communities, civil groups, militant movements and militias as well as conflicts between communities, ethnic groups, militias and cults have turned the region into a huge melting pot of pervasive unrests, violence, crimes, local wars and insecurity. The conflicts constituted an immense threat to the oil infrastructure, the economy, national stability and security survival, the nation project and human security. These conflicts and their devastating consequences persisted in spite of several commissions that were set up, efforts at pacification and development interventions until 2009. However, in 2009, the federal government quite unusually and contrary to its securitization of the conflict embarked on an amnesty programme. The programme entailed a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of former militants and some promises of a post amnesty programme for the resolution of the conflicts. The programme has raised considerable interests, has been held as a major effort at resolving the conflict and was presented as one of the most remarkable achievements of the late President, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. The amnesty proclamation is now almost a year old and can be critically interrogated in terms of its objectives, content, implementation, performance, problems and prospects particularly against the background of what it held out in relation to the resolution of the conflicts and peace building in the region. This study critically examines the amnesty, the DDR programme and the post conflict transition efforts thus far, in the light of lessons and insights drawn from the literature and experiences elsewhere. We are particularly grateful to the Think Tank Initiative for the Institutional support provided for CPED which has enabled the Centre to carry out the study that led to publication of this policy monograph. pg. 1 C P E D M o n o g r a p h S e r i e s N o 3 CHAPTER ONE Peace and Peace Building Though peace refers to a relative state of being, tranquility, wholeness and harmony, in conflict studies it denotes the absence of threats, fear, intimidation, brutality and harm. It further denotes the absence of pg. 6 C P E D M o n o g r a p h S e r i e s N o 3 Address issues of equity and justice between MNOCs & OPCs, between communities & groups.
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science
From early 1990 to 2009, Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region was engulfed in conflict between multinational corporations (MNCs) and restive youths (popularly called militants) over the adverse effects ofoil pollution on their environment, live and economy. To curtail the conflict, Nigerian government initiated an amnesty programme for the militants in June 2009. This paper examined the impact and limitation of the programme, and measures to avert further conflict. The study was conducted via content analysis of books, articles in journals, editorials, and in-depth interviews conducted in the Niger Delta region between December 2018 and June 2019. This paper detectedthat the amnesty programme has brought about fragile peace, but the propensity of violence resurging is high,because the prime issues that triggered the conflict remain unaddressed. To forstall further conflict, Nigerian government and the oil MNCs must eradicate environmental degradation and invest in human and community development. Should conflict such as the one discoursed in this paper occur in the future, Nigerian government may grant amnesty, but must avoid 'paying for peace' as such approach is unsustainable. Rather than spend to lure people away from violence, the root cause of the conflict should be addressed.
How Fragile a Peace? Analysing the 2009 Amnesty in the Niger Delta
The Niger Delta has some of the largest oil fields in the world. It is a dangerous place often associated with guns and the kidnapping of foreign nationals. It is also devastatingly underdeveloped, and suffers from heavy pollution from 50 years of living with the oil industry. The presence of Multinational oil corporations has provoked contention for decades but the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine in 1995 drew the plight of the region into the international spotlight. In recent years, the region hit headlines again with the emergence of the militant group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which launched attacks on oil installations and kidnapped oil expatriates. This insurgency reached its height in 2009 and it was in the midst of this national emergency that President Yar’adua introduced the Niger Delta amnesty programme. Since implementation the region has witnessed relative peace; however, with the programme due to end in December this year, the chance of this peace enduring is uncertain. This paper offers a critical analysis of the programme arguing that, because it failed to address the environmental degradation of the region, it is probable that the Niger Delta will witness renewed violence.
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.