AMNESTY AS A PANACEA FOR STOPPING MILITANCY IN THE NIGER DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined Amnesty as a panacea for stopping militancy in the Niger Delta region of

Nigeria. It examined the root causes of the act of militancy that led to the amnesty programme

pronouncement it also looked at those who were involved in the programme and why they were

involved. Corruption was seen as a destructive tool that had frustrated the effort of government in

achieving its objective. The government must strengthen its agencies to make its efforts succeed.

INTRODUCTION

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria has been one plagued with a lot of infrastructural, human capital

and environmental problems. This simply has arisen from age long neglect of the region from

government and the oil multinational companies which do business within the region, some of such

companies are Shell, Mobile, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Elf and Agip these

companies have operated within the region for decades and have nothing to show for it in their area

of operation. Oil was found in Ogoni land in the year 1958 and sold in commercial quantity from K.

Dere (Bomu Oil Field).

1

In 1970 the first seed of the current conflict were sown when Ogoni chiefs

handed a petition to the local Military Governor complaining about Shell, then operating a joint

venture with BP. According to the petition the company was "seriously threatening the well- being,