Editorials Opinion and Analysis
Renewed hostilities in the Niger Delta
By: Anonymous
The recent hostilities in the Niger Delta have come as a shock. Not because it was thought that government's amnesty programme was progressing well, but because it was felt that everyone had agreed that there was no going back to the period of militancy in the Niger Delta.
Some ex-militant leaders last weekend described the takeover of the abandoned militant camps by the Federal Government, through the Joint Task Force (JTF), as an act of insincerity. This is just as they described those masquerading as militants to unleash terror on the people of the Niger Delta region as criminals.
Since the start of the amnesty programme, oil production has increased and now hovers around 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd). This is in contrast to the continuous decline experienced during the period of militancy which led to a lower production of about 1.3 million bpd.
Indeed, reduction in oil production was not the only cost of militancy. Besides disruption to oil production, many lives were lost on a daily basis; the lives of the people of Niger Delta were also in disarray, and there was the mounting economic cost in lost investment, growth and jobs.
Renewed hostilities will rekindle these economic, social and political uncertainties and anxieties in the Niger Delta. It will also mean the end of the amnesty programme, a programme which seems to be the last chance for peace, growth and development in the region. Neither the Niger Delta nor Nigeria can afford a return to the dark past.
Now, why is there renewed hostility in the Niger Delta? First, this is a period of serious political agitation and some of those interested in positions in 2011 regard their ambition as a do-or-die affair. It is possible that the amnesty programme is being exploited for political purposes. After all, the rise in militancy in the past could be traced to the use of militants for political purposes earlier in the decade.
Second, it is obvious that the amnesty programme is seriously flawed in some respects. For instance, there is no credible programme for the gainful employment of militants who have been trained or who are being trained. As it is not possible for people to remain in training indefinitely, the absence of a credible plan for them to secure jobs makes some aspects of the programme unsustainable.
In addition, the general perception is that the whole amnesty programme has been largely limited to the payment of allowances to militants. The expectation of the public was that the federal government and state governments in the region would come up with a comprehensive and strategic infrastructural and growth plan that would ensure the start of improvement in the overall economic and social climate of the region.
As a matter of urgency, the federal government should make public the status of the amnesty programme; state the future direction of the programme and clearly define its response strategy to aspiration of the people of the area and the country as a whole. Nigeria simply cannot afford a return to militancy in the Niger Delta.
