By Sunday Attah
It was for noble intentions and the need to placate
the restive Niger Delta (ND) militants when former Nigeria’s President, Late
Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua
exercised his constitutional power
by granting amnesty and unconditional pardon to all Niger Delta militants in June 2009. On
acceptance, the militants were expected to renounce militancy and embrace the
Federal Government of Nigeria’s (FGN) package for their rehabilitation.
The amnesty has survived till date, with FGN
spending billions to train and empower ex-militants. However, what has refused
to change is the absolute denunciation of militancy in the ND, as the amnesty
has turned into a festering sore with more splinter groups emerging from former
militancy camps or organizations.
Its now difficult, if not impossible to establish an
effective census of militant groups in the Niger Delta. Neither the National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS) nor the National Population Commission (NPC) dare venture into such an
exercise. That is the extent Niger Deltans have rubbished one of the very
laudable efforts of government to bring succor to people of the region.
Before Yar’Adua’s amnesty, the Niger Delta paraded
militant groups like the defunct Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), Niger
Delta Vigilante (NDV) and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND). Leaders of these groups claimed
to have embraced amnesty and renounced militancy.
But now, militant groups have duplicated to the
extent, even militants themselves are amazed.
There is the Reformed Egbesu Boys, Egbesu Water Lions and Egbesu Mythier
Fraternity to Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) Adaka Boro Avengers (ABA) Niger Delta
Liberation Front (NDLF) to Former Forest Soldiers, (FFS), aka Isaac Boro Last
Born among others. And their common denominator is that they are splinter
groups from earlier militancy camps.
Beyond this, the emerging militant groups differ in
almost all nuances, but hold firm to claims of fighting for the emancipation of
the impoverished Niger Delta.
Agreed that the Niger Delta region is the base of
Nigeria’s oil wealth. And since 2006, renewed agitations for the control of the
oil resources of the region has violently heightened
The familiar trademark of militancy in the ND has
been bombing or blowing up of oil installations and facilities, kidnapping or
abduction of oil workers, mostly foreign nationals, and the near blackmail of the FGN with
outrageous demands for cessation of hostilities. The cost of the ND restiveness
on the economic fortunes of Nigeria has been enormous.
But Leaders of the country, (including South-South
leaders) seems confused on the best way to placate the region. History is
replete with attempts by successive leaders of the country to genuinely revisit
the ND question and their agitations.
But the directionless pattern of the militancy in
the region has forced the impression that the age-long sensation is prompted by
greed rather than an honest desire to salvage the region.
So, even under military dictatorships, Nigeria’s
most dreaded dictator, Late Gen. Sani Abacha, extended solace to the Niger
Delta. Gen. Abacha granted the ND 13% derivation formula; President Ibrahim
Babangida created the Oil and Mineral Resources Producing Areas Development
Commission (OMPADEC) and later on, the Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC) emerged and in 2008, an independent ministry for Niger Delta Affairs was
created. These have been efforts of the FGN to redress the perceived injustices
in the region.
And to
further ice the cake, Late President Umaru Yar’Adua introduced the Presidential
Amnesty Programme (PAP). Through it, dozens of repentant militants have been
trained in various fields and others paid monthly stipends. Some ex-militants
have actually distinguished themselves in their field of study both within and
outside Nigeria.
But it appears the PAP has sparked more trouble than
it was intended to solve. It is quite strange, that only in the ND region
multiple groups which claim to be fighting a common populist cause have no
uniformity of ideology, cohesion or consensus on any matter. Each emerging
group has its separate agenda and feels the only way the FGN can listen to its
grievances is by attacking and destroying oil facilities and crippling the
national economy.
And from the pronouncements of some of these groups,
it is clear PAP was misconstrued by many as a permanent appeasement, an
instrument of blackmail and a national largesse for the inhabitants of the
ND. Consequently, most emerging militant
groups mouthed that their exclusion in the amnesty programme is reason for their
renewed aggressions.
But in the last few years of FGN’s intervention in
the ND, through the special agencies and the ministry created for the region,
over $40 billion have been expended in improving the lives of people of the
region in the last four years. Minister
of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu dished out this information
and no leader from the region has contested it veracity. Despite these huge sums expended, there is
little or no impact because of poor utilization.
Besides, Buhari has started the clean-up of areas
despoiled by oil spillage, through the implementation of the UNEP Report on
Ogoniland. Yet, the militants have remained resolute to hold the country to
ransom. There is no more justification for this aggressiveness, except it is
meant to deliberately distract the government.
But in advertising a somewhat criminal enterprise
and inclination, which appears to be the second identity of militancy in the
ND, they freely dabble into political issues, each time they list conditions
for cessation of hostilities. Part of their ridiculous demands include the
release of corrupt politicians like Col.
Sambo Dasuki who is on trial for the
alleged arms scandal and the
unconditional release of a secession campaigner like leader of the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu and the de-freezing of the accounts of ex-militant
leader, Government Ekpemupolo among others.
So, the struggle is no longer about the emancipation
of the Niger Delta or restoring its dignity as the militants delight in
postulating. It is about vested personal interests of their sponsored leaders,
who identify with government in the day time, but romance the militants at
nights.
Based on the mounting pressure on the FGN and with
the silent voice of America which is pushing for dialogue, President Buhari
seems to be bending backwards by announcing its readiness to dialogue with the
NDA militants.
And that is where the trouble lies because further
granting of amnesty or recognition of emergent militant groups and cash
patronage by the FGN would instigate fresh problems. Therefore, the extension
of another amnesty to NDA and even similar other groups in the region would
amount to succumbing to blackmail of the militants. It would inevitably give
birth to more such militant groups, who would also demand for same treatment as
evidenced by the experiences of PAP under
former President Yar’Adua. In addition, this step would signpost the
reward of gangs guilty of economic sabotage or crimes against the Nigerian
state.
Attah, a public affairs analyst contributed this
piece from Yenegoa, Bayelsa State.
No comments:
Post a Comment