CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND AMNESTY PROGRAMME THE QUEST FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND AMNESTY PROGRAMME THE QUEST FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
CHAPITRE ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Nigeria is home to nearly all of Africa’s native races, resulting in a rich diversity of people and culture. Bantu and Semi-Bantu migrants from southern and central Africa intermarried with Sudanese in Nigeria. Other groups, such as Shuwa-Arabs, Tuaregs, and Fulanis, who live in the extreme north, later invaded northern Nigeria in migratory waves across the Sahara Desert.
The first inhabitants of established themselves in the forest belt and the Niger Delta region. Nigeria is estimated to have around 250 ethnic groupings today. While no single ethnic group has an absolute numerical majority, four major ethnic groups account for 60% of the population:
Hausa-Fulani in the north, Yoruba in the west, and Igbo in the east. Kanuri, Binis, Ibibio, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Efik, Nupe, Tiv, and Jukun are some of the other communities. Nigeria gained independence on October 1, 1960,
and became a republic in 1963, with a federal system and three regional governments based on the compass directions North, East, and West. The Midwest, a fourth region, was eventually included.
In 1967, the country’s political system was expanded to twelve states, then to nineteen states in 1976, with Abuja serving as the new federal capital. Between 1987 and 1991, eleven states were formed, and six more were added in 1996, increasing the federation’s administrative structure to thirty-six states.
The federal government chose Abuja as the new seat of government in 1976, and the first of four stages of the relocation to Abuja began in 1992, with the majority of top government personnel now residing in Abuja.
Aside from being the administrative centre of government, Abuja is a picturesque city surrounded by rolling hills with potential for mountaineering. The Gwagwa Hills, near Suleja, the Chukuku Hills,
the Agwai Hills, and the famous Zuma rocks are just a few examples of the area’s breathtaking natural splendour. Bida, the Nupe people’s main city, is a vibrant town known for its bandicrafts and colourful market.
Bida is well-known for its glass beads, textiles, silver and brass craftsmanship, and carved 8-legged chairs constructed from a single piece of wood. Bida’s market truly stands out as a classic exhibition of Nigerian trade. Gurara Falls is located in Niger State on the Gurara River, on the road between Suleja and Minna.
The falls, which are most stunning during the rainy season, span 200 metres across and have a vertical drop of 30 metres, creating a dazzling rainbow effect as the water pours over the top into a cloud of spray below.
For many years, the Niger Delta, a lush mangrove rainforest near Nigeria’s southern coast, has been a hotspot of violence. Over 50 years, the Nigerian government, like a doctor, has attempted to solve the region’s condition.
The Will Link Commission was established during the colonial era in response to minority unrest over what they perceived as an imbalance in Nigeria’s political and economic structure.
In accordance with the development Acts of the 1960s and the late 1980s, the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) was established in 1962 to function as an advisory body and to supply government with information that would contribute to the easing of the region’s situation.
Nothing major was done to address the Niger Delta’s developmental issues. In an attempt to allay the fears of the people of the Niger Delta, General Ibrahim Babaginda’s military administration established the Oil Minerals Production Areas Development Commission (OMPADC) in 1989, but it failed to achieve its goals due to wastefulness and corruption.
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was founded in 2000 during Obasanjo’s administration with the sole aim of improving the oil-rich Niger Delta area of southern Nigeria. A magnifying lens, such as (OMPADEC), will be required to see its performance.
Despite the presence of these institutions, militant activities, violence, and rebellion that portray a looming civil war have been the order of the day in the region, prompting the federal government to establish a new ministry called the Ministry of Niger Delta in 2008.
As a result, the military strategy to maintaining peace in the region has been adopted, including the use of a joint military force (JTF). The military approach has failed to bring about peace in the region.
On September 8, 2008, the federal government established a technical committee headed by Ledum Mittee to distil the numerous studies, proposals, and recommendations in accordance with the seven-point Agenda. From the Willinks Commission Report of 1958 until the present, provide an overview of the recommendations.
The militant panel was tasked with developing immediate, medium, and long-term solutions to Niger Delta challenges, as well as making any other recommendations that will aid in the region’s sustainable development, peace, human, and environmental security.
On December 1, 2008, President Yar’Adua received the report, which guaranteed the people that the region’s difficulties will be fully handled. Following the committee’s recommendations, the federal government is currently exploring an amnesty policy for militants as a solution to the Niger Delta Crisis.
Since the federal government’s and multinational corporations’ efforts to free the Niger Delta from the constraints of underdevelopment, violence, and rebellion have proven futile, it is imperative that greater attention be paid to the core causes of the problem.
The Amnesty initiative, which is one of the recommendations in the mittee committee report, is based on the need for the Niger-Delta area to achieve sustainable development, peace, and human and environmental security.
The head of the Amnesty implementation panel, General Godwin Abbe (RTD), stated that the purpose of the Amnesty initiative is to promote peace, reconciliation, reintegration, healing, and sustainable development in the troubled Niger-Delta region.
Over the years, the Niger-Delta has been subjected to a variety of hardships and injustices, resulting in violence and the destruction of lives and property. Amoda believes that the amnesty approach to security, politics, and conflict resolution is a legal method, and that amnesty is a general pardon of offence by government, an intentional overlooking of offences against a government.
To pardon is to absolve the criminally culpable of the law’s reasonable punishment; it is to cancel or not to exact the punishment due for the offence committed. This is the nature of the government’s connection with the insurgents in the Niger Delta. Instead of being prosecuted, the militants are pardoned.
According to this interpretation, the amnesty was created to avoid insurgents who should have been prosecuted for engaging in illegal acts from suffering the wrath of the law in order to roster peace and progress in the Niger Delta region.
1.2 THEORETICAL STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
Many conflicts arose in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region as a result of agitation for resource control and self-determination. A key issue is that many agitations and wars have criminalised the area, resulting in numerous forces and groups claiming to represent the interests of the people in the area.
While the struggles fought by the various ethnic militants groups formed by the area’s disgruntled citizens and youths on behalf of the people of the area and to force the government to recognise their needs and demands can be accepted as a legitimate option when
conditional and other legitimate avenues have been closed by the government’s insensitivity to their plights and demands, the recent form in which the struggles have taken delegitimize the struggles.
Oil pipeline sabotage, assassinations, kidnappings, arson and burning of police stations, attacks on government buildings and other facilities have criminalised the struggles, prompting the administration to declare them criminals.
However, in an effort to restore order and demonstrate the government’s care, Yar’Adua’s civilian government has extended amnesty to the militants.
As a result, amnesty had been employed as a tool of dispute mediation. How far can this go in truly resolving the Niger Delta problem? This is the key topic that this study intends to investigate thoroughly.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the research aims.
To investigate the issues impeding the development of the Niger Delta region.
To investigate the chances for peace in the Niger Delta in light of the federal government’s amnesty for insurgents.
To investigate the federal government’s actions in meeting the immediate and future needs of militants given amnesty.
1.4 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The Niger Delta’s significance to the nation cannot be overstated. The human, financial, and material costs that the violence is generating in Nigeria may never be accurately defined. As a result, everyone agreed that the conflict needed to be handled quickly so that peace could return to the region.
As a result, when the government revealed its policy of awarding the militants amnesty, there was a collective sigh of relief. The significance of this study is that it intends to measure and so evaluate the success of the government’s amnesty programme, as well as to make ideas to make the policy more viable.
1.5 STUDY METHODOLOGY
The technique employed in this study is mostly based on secondary data gathered from journals, periodicals, reports, government publications and statements, bulletins, critical and textbook, libraries, and internal extracts.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study aims to investigate the impact of the amnesty programme on conflict resolution policy and strategy, as well as how far it might possibly settle the basic issues confronting the people of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.
1.7 CLARIFICATION OF THE CONCEPT
This section attempts to clarify some of the important phrases and concepts utilised in this study research activity.
AMNESTY
Amnesty occurs when a government agrees not to punish or no longer punishes those who have committed a specific offence against the state. A time when someone can give something unlawful, such as guns, to someone in authority or admit to being part in anything illegal without being penalised.
The amnesty previously granted to repentant militants in the Niger Delta region is part of a package that includes a rehabilitation and capacity-building initiative to provide the militants with the skills needed for reintegration into various businesses.
THE NIGER DELTA
The Niger Delta is located in Nigeria’s south-south geographical zone. The Niger Delta is the world’s third largest wetland, covering an area of over 70,000 square kilometres and consisting of sandy coastal ridge barriers and brackish or saline mangrove.
CONFLICT
According to Morton, conflict develops when incompatible actions occur. An activity that is incompatible with another action prevents, obstructs, interferes, or makes the latter less likely to be effective.
PEACE THAT IS SUSTAINABLE
Sustainable peace and development can be defined as the desire to honour and stand by all outstanding memorandums of understanding (M.O.U) treaties and peaceful treaties are entered into by various parties (past and present) to bring about tranquilly, peacefulness, and freedom of all kinds.
However, there cannot be sustainable peace without first resolving conflicts that have arisen in both the past and the present, and it is only if and when this is done that there can be sustainable peace and development.
Development can be defined as a multi-dimensional process that normally can change from a less desirable to a more desirable state.
Scholars have debated the concept of development. Some see it solely in economic terms, while others regard it as spanning all aspects of people’s life. Prof. Ojo defined development as the expression of change in a phenomena’s distinctive character that results in qualitative and quantitative improvement in the nature and condition of the phenomenon.
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