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Post-amnesty peacebuilding and restiveness in the Niger Delta: what do grassroots narratives suggest?

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Abstract

The Presidential Amnesty Programme in Nigeria is perceived as a mere contrivance designed to foster the exploitation of oil resources in the Niger Delta. This is because evidence indicates that a significant number of the registered ex-militants are yet to be reintegrated into the society, while others have relapsed into militancy or other criminal activities. Although studies have interrogated some components of the amnesty programme, the reintegration phase is still problematic and has not received sufficient scholarly attention. As a result, the resurgence of environmental activism and youth restiveness underlines the need for further interrogation of peacebuilding efforts in the post-conflict Niger Delta. Moreover, the tendency to interpret the resurgence of militancy and cult violence as a reflection of the erstwhile militants’ insatiability is not supported by the prevailing existential conditions and lived experiences of people in the Niger Delta. This study reinforces the claim that the surviving militant groups are not adequately integrated into the circuit of economic prosperity expected from the amnesty programme. Using qualitative-dominant data from 80 participants in Rivers State, among others, this study, a grassroots assessment of the amnesty programme, reveals that the reintegration phase of the programme remains knotty. The findings suggest that the programme has further fuelled restiveness in the region, albeit inadvertently, with its concomitant threat to security in the Gulf of Guinea.

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Notes

  1. Professor Charles Dokubo was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari on 13 March 2018 as his Special Adviser on the Niger Delta and Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme. However, he was suspended by the President on 28 February 2020 over allegations of corruption (Ukpong 2020).

  2. See Fig. 1 for a graphic representation of the states in the Niger Delta. With over 30 million people, the region accounts for more than 23% of Nigeria’s population (The Fund for Peace 2018).

  3. The Niger Delta question has become a euphemism for all the critical issues accounting for the perpetuation of poverty, inequality, oppression and underdevelopment of the region. It dates back to colonial days in Nigeria. The same question accounted for the Willink Minorities Commission Report in mid-1958. Among other things, the Commission recommended that the Niger Delta be regarded as a special development area, requiring particular economic assistance.

  4. The exchange rate of naira to dollar was ₦350 in 2018.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to our respondents who participated in this study. We also appreciate the contributions of the anonymous reviewers of this article and the editorial team of Security Journal, especially Dr J. Tochukwu Omenma, for their useful comments.

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  1. Department of Social Work, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Prince C. Agwu & Uzoma O. Okoye

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Chikodiri Nwangwu

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Agwu, P.C., Nwangwu, C. & Okoye, U.O. Post-amnesty peacebuilding and restiveness in the Niger Delta: what do grassroots narratives suggest?. Secur J 35, 754–776 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-021-00298-y

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