Exclusion and Peacebuilding in the Niger Delta of Nigeria: An Assessment of the Presidential Amnesty Programme

Abstract

After almost two decades of militarisation and military action as well as protests, violence and armed resistance in which civil society, communities and militants played vanguard roles, the Niger Delta entered a new historical period as of October 2009. Based on the Federal Government's promise to address problems of the Niger Delta as part of a seven-point agenda, militants in the region accepted a federal amnesty, pursuing disarmament and a cessation of hostilities. With the aid of secondary data, this article examines the issue of exclusion in the design and implementation of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and how it has affected peacebuilding in the Niger Delta. This article argues that the commitment put into securing amnesty and militant participation has not translated into the development of a sound programmatic framework based on best practices, the building of a solid inclusionary basis for mobilising and integrating the people, harnessing synergies and efforts, and the construction of a solid platform of intergovernmental and state–non-state partnership. As such, the Presidential Amnesty Programme is likely to only partially address challenges of post-conflict development and peacebuilding in the Niger Delta.