…Uncertainty over Amnesty scheme

REPORT, the other day, that allocations to the Amnesty programme in the Niger Delta have been cut by half to N20 billion this year needs official clarification. The Medium Term Expenditure Framework document showed that the allocation for the Amnesty Programme was halved to N20 billion for 2016, and subsequently, it was not included for 2017.

Expectedly, it has been interpreted in some quarters that the omission of the allocation affirms that the scheme has been slated for discontinuance. Naturally again, this has provoked protests by former Niger Delta militants against the government. The grouse of the militants, operating under the aegis of Presidential Amnesty Phase II, is that the present reduction will be inadequate to meet their monthly stipends; it will also amount to government’s breach of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with them.

In responding to the expressed apprehension, government should bear in mind the antecedent of the Amnesty programme – initiated during the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua – as a strategic incentive for militants in the Niger Delta to drop their arms, embrace peace and pursue lawful professional training, in and outside the country.

There is no doubt that the problems in the area are still lingering, and in some cases, exacerbating; meaning that a discontinuation of the programme without a clearly articulated alternative strategy to maintain peace and development in the Niger Delta will be premature.

Rather than cancel the Amnesty Programme, Government should fine-tune, recalibrate and use it as a template for application elsewhere and for integration into the development agenda. Government needs to appraise and evaluate the success of the programme; and re-strategise to eliminate waste and accelerate gains. Under no circumstance should government, however, allow feelers that it is about to jettison the programme, along with the unresolved issues that have stagnated real development and provoked unrest in the Niger Delta.