Assessing the FG amnesty programme

On Thursday, last week, leaders of the Niger Delta met at Kiagbodo, hometown of Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin K. Clark in Delta State to reflect on recent developments. Rising from the meeting, the leaders warned the presidency to show more concern towards the growing impatience, occasioned in Nigeria’s crude oil belt, by the delay in the proposed dialogue between government and regional stakeholders, aimed at bringing lasting peace to the troubled region. The delay by the Federal Government in firming up a peace deal with the stakeholders, the leaders said, could reverse the gains of the current ceasefire.

However, while the meeting was holding in Kiagbodo, the government made good its promise to pay the stipends promised to the Niger Delta militants under the amnesty programme. Though only the first batch of beneficiaries were paid their August and September stipends, plans are said to be underway to complete the payment for the second and third batches of militants under the programme. This is a commendable development.

The Amnesty Programme was conceptualised to embody a social agenda that will underpin the health, education, employment, sense of fulfilment and the general well-being of all the people of the Niger Delta region, either directly or indirectly.

On the whole, the government was expected to recognise the inviolability of an existing social contract between it and the people’s rights, responsibilities and with promises to deliver the basic necessities as a pre-requisite for decent human existence.

In spite of the huge revenue from the exploration and exploitation of crude oil and gas which are found in abundance in the bowels of the Niger Delta region, it is quite appalling that the travails of existence in that region have assumed a gargantuan proportion. This is the paradox.
The dynamics and the increasing incidence of poverty and want in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta, have stratified and polarised the society into opposing camps of haves and have-nots; educated and uneducated; north and south etc. The resulting tensions and other social conflicts are eroding the fabric that has held the society together over the decades. Therefore, it is very important to state that the challenge is not only to institute reformative measures to jumpstart and boost the nation’s economic growth alone, but also, there is the need to empower the people of the Niger Delta.

It is in fulfilment of the government’s social contract with the people of the Niger Delta region that a programme like the Amnesty Programme becomes one of the veritable means of redressing the retrogressive legacies of the past. It must be noted that the programme is not an end in itself or solely designed to financially empower the core leaders of the various militant groups dotting the creeks of the Niger Delta or their sorely aggrieved foot-soldiers.

In empowering the ex-militants through sponsored training and education in selected schools and technical centres at home and abroad, the Amnesty Programme has contributed, in no small measure, to strengthening the Niger Delta, through the training of the ex-militants in technical, vocational, liberal and entrepreneurial education to meet the region’s manpower needs.

A veritable testimonial in reference to the contribution of the PAP to the human capital development of the Niger Delta region is the recent graduation of 51 ex-militants from Novena University, Ogume, in Delta State, with seven (7) beneficiaries graduating in the second-class upper division.

As in all human endeavours, it has not been smooth-sailing in some crucial aspects of the programme. There are reported cases where many ex-militants were not paid their stipends for months on end. It is gratifying to note that under the new leadership of the programme, safer and more accountable measures are being put in place.

As Nigeria enters the eighth year of the PAP, there are indications that it may be wound up this year, 2017. But there are also signs and palpable presidential body-language that it may either be reviewed with more ex-militants being inducted into the scheme as a precautionary measure against the simmering unease degenerating into a full-scale war or confrontation.

It is also imperative that additional funding should be injected into the programme as a prime factor that will drive the key area of human capital development, which is multi-dimensional in scope.

The Amnesty Programme needs more funding at this point in time, more than ever before, as more emphasis and premium is being placed on creating a well-educated and trained cadre of ex-militants who are proficient in their various disciplines.

As a matter of policy, the limited employment opportunities open to the beneficiaries of the diverse human capital development schemes of the programme should be bridged through the provision of attractive starter-packs inclusive of soft loans (or given gratis) and technical advice on self-employment etc, which will, in turn, create employment windows within the region.