Set a time limit for PAP
On June 25, 2009, President Umaru Musa Yar’adua came up with the bold idea of proclaiming amnesty for agitators in the oil producing South South region in order to end the ruinous activities of Niger Delta militants. The amnesty’s terms included willingness by the militants to surrender their arms, renounce militancy and voluntarily sign an […]
On June 25, 2009, President Umaru Musa Yar’adua came up with the bold idea of proclaiming amnesty for agitators in the oil producing South South region in order to end the ruinous activities of Niger Delta militants. The amnesty’s terms included willingness by the militants to surrender their arms, renounce militancy and voluntarily sign an undertaking to this effect. In return, the Federal Government promised to institute programs that will assist in the disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-militants.
The main objective of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) from inception was to stabilize, consolidate and sustain peace and security in the Niger Delta. Since the proclamation insurgency has ended, pipeline vandalisation has greatly reduced stopped and peace has generally reigned in that part of the country. This has impacted positively on the nation’s economy. From 700,000 barrels per day in January 2009, Nigeria’s crude oil soon production grew to between 2.4 and 2.6 million barrels per day.
Although the PAP was initiated by Yar’adua, its implementation was mostly carried out by former President Goodluck Jonathan. Under the amnesty’s terms, tens of thousands of ex-militants were enrolled in the program’s first and second phases. They went through transformational training at a demobilisation camp at Obubra in Cross River State with experts from South Africa and USA handling their demobilization exercise.
Upon completion of their non-violence training and career classification at the camp, many of the ex-militants were sent to skills acquisition centers. Others were deployed to re-integration centers to pursue formal education or vocational training within and outside Nigeria. They variously went to USA, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Malaysia, UK, Israel, Sri Lanka, India, Cyprus, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Ghana, Benin Republic and Trinidad and Tobago. A report said commercial pilots, aviation maintenance engineers, underwater engineers, marine divers, crane operators, seafarers, auto mechanics, boat builders, oil and gas drillers and ICT specialists were all trained under the program.
Only 13,000 out of the 30,000 beneficiaries of the program have received formal education or vocational training at the time Brig-General Paul Boro (rtd) was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Co-coordinator of PAP. This was disclosed by Boro’s Chief of Staff Colonel Dedis Abel (rtd). He said last month that the monthly stipend of N65,000 per ex-militant will henceforth be paid directly to the ex-militants and not through their leaders. The decision, according to Abel, was reached following reports shortchanging some of the beneficiaries by their leaders. Some of the ex-militants were reportedly paid as little as N20,000.
Ahead of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta’s consideration of the 2015 Status Report of the PAP, the Co-coordinator was accused of spending N48 billion from which N157 million was for the purchase of official vehicles including an armoured Lexus Lx 570 Sport Utility Vehicle for Boro’s use. He however described the allegation as malicious.
Apart from these allegations, the enrolment of those who were not initially part of the PAP was another challenge that negatively impinged on its implementation, creating avenues for corruption to thrive in the scheme. However, the gains of the PAP including the peace brought by it outweigh the money spent so far on the program. A program that brought relative peace and stability to a whole region of the country should therefore not be seen as a drain. Yet, government must let Nigerians know when this program will end. It was originally designed to wind up in December 2015 but as things stand, the exercise appears to be open-ended.
Termination of PAP should not be abrupt but it should be planned to end methodically to allow for steady transition of beneficiaries. Government is equally advised to utilize the lessons learnt from the implementation of PAP when planning for the resettlement and rehabilitation of internally displaced persons in the war ravaged North East region.