What is the Amnesty Program ?

The Amnesty Program has to do with the presidential amnesty proclamation on 25^thof June 2009 (by the last president Yar Adua).

It’s a way of making sure that there is lasting peace in the Niger Delta region, which has been the economic mainstay of Nigeria thanks to it’s natural ressources.

This program consists in trading arms for education. It gives the armed militants the opportunity to give up their weapons and stop fighting, in exchange they will be given the opportunity to train and therefore come back to their region with all the necessary training to develop it.

Why was this program created?

From 2007-2009, the most critical period of the Niger Delta agitations, Nigerian Oil productions went from , to 700 000 barrels per day.

The country could either go to war against itself, killing it’s own population and military, or maintaining peace.

The country decided to create a program to amnestie the people who accepted to disarm.

Response from activists

After a 60 days grace period, 20192 persons disarmed. Although this doesn’t represent the totality of the people who took part in the agitation, this symbolic number of disarmed activists lead the other more discreet ones to also accept the ceasefire.

The people agreed to Peace as an option.

Kidnapping, hijacking and various attacks on oil installations have stopped since.

What makes your program different from most similar programs?

Unlike other programs from other countries, like Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, or even in european KOSOVO , the program is not managed by the UN, the African Union or the Commonwealth, but only by Nigeria, funded entirely by Nigeria, no Kobo is added!

No lives were lost in the entire program, which made it easier on the people to accept the ceasefire.

6166 supplementary people disarmed after seeing the success of the program. An extention program was then created for them.

So your program is helping calm down the militants, but how do you count on attacking the heart of the problem, since militants :

We plan to create employement and educational structures within the delta region. We currently have many on going projects such as:

•       The opening of new towns in the creek

•         Construction of a University in Otueke

•      Construction of a Maritime college in Burutu

•         Construction of a Railway system

•         East west road from Lagos to Calabar

•          Bayelsa University

A Message for the diaspora

The country has been developping ever since 1999. Since the  Obasanjo government, a lot of people from the Nigerian diaspora in UK and US have come to contribute in Nigeria’s developpement and have made it. If you ever feel the call of your country, respond to it, come, don’t worry you wont ever be alone.