Experts anchor renewed insurgency on failed post-amnesty planning

Experts in the oil and gas sector have blamed renewed militancy which has knocked-off over 800,000 barrels per day from Nigeria’s production, (according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation )  resulting in over N60billion in revenue losses in three months, on the failure of the Federal government to chart a post-amnesty plan after spending huge resources training ex-militants.

As militants, under the aegis of the Niger Delta Avengers have now chosen to embrace dialogue, they are calling for a thoughtful, reasoned and pragmatic engagement with them to forestall future hostilities.

“A lot of people who benefited from the programme were not the core people worst affected by the damage in the Niger Delta,” Henry Biose, petroleum economist and policy researcher, with the University of Port Harcourt told BusinessDay.

Biose further said, “The government did not have follow-up plans for the people who went for training. They were trained and after their training, most of them were left to their devices and some are using the knowledge to cause harm.”

Casely Omon-Irabor , a Delta-based lawyer who represented the militant groups for nearly six years also believes better attention could have been paid the programme when it was nearing its end. He said what has been restraining them since last year has been lack of arms.

Two months prior to the end of the 2009 amnesty programme conceived by former President Umaru Yaradua,  the International Crisis Group published a report warning that increasing complaints over chronic poverty and oil pollution may fuel a renewed rebellion in the region as the Presidential Amnesty Programme for ex-militants reached its twilight in December 2015.

“There is a serious mismatch between the training the former militants receive and the job market. At the end of March 2015, reportedly only 151 of the 15,451 graduates from the training programmes had found jobs with credible organisations in the country,” the group said.

Between August and October 2009, about 30,000 ‘repentant’ militants turned in their weapons in exchange for training in non-violence activities. Some were offered vocational training in various trades; others acquired higher education in schools abroad – United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, South Africa and the United States of America.

Some militants were sent to Israel for agricultural training; India, for information and communication technology (ICT) and to Poland, for crane operation and pipeline welding .

Some received training in ocean diving in Sri-Lanka, under-water welding in Ghana, boat building and sea-faring in the Philippines and piloting in South Africa.

Since 2009, the amnesty deal is estimated to have cost Nigeria $500m a year according to a report published by Edinburg International. This does not include mega contracts such as pipeline security received by the most vocal members like Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo) and Ateke Tom.

Analysts say this lack of a careful planning and supervision has led to loss of huge sums allocated for development in the region which are misappropriated without  anyone accounting for it.

Between 2009 and 2013 analysis of the federal government budget showed that N322 billion has been allocated to the Niger Delta Ministry, documents on the website of the ministry indicated that it has successfully executed contracts worth about N4 billion.

A group called the Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG) published a report on the assessment of the ministry’s 2013 budget projections taking apart the document to reveal cases of budget padding, fraudulent entries and repetitions of line items with different names.

“We totally reject the yearly revolving allocation of millions of naira for ‘maintenance of furniture’ by this ministry. For 2013, “maintenance of furniture” is projected at N19 million. In 2010, it was N25 million, N10 million in 2011 and a little above N19 million in 2012. Even if the actual releases are unknown, if the projection for “maintenance of furniture” alone is aggregated for 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, it amounted to about N73 million.

“This amount is enough to acquire some hectares of land on commercial rate (no reference to Land Use Act) for Agriculture or Rubber Plantation, where hundreds of youths in the region can be employed on mega farming. It can also support about eight (8) widows with N1 million each from the Nine (9) states on small rural empowerment schemes like garri making, beaded bags, etc.”

The Niger Delta Development Commission was established in 2000 with the objective of facilitating rapid, even and sustainable development of the region. Between 2000 and 2015, the agency budgeted about N2.2 trillion of which about N1.4 trillion has been received.

As of 2008 the Commission had awarded just over 2,500 projects which rose to 6,000 projects by 2013 and 8,000 projects in 2015.Analysts say the projects executed are far cry from expectations.

“With about 8,000 projects outstanding and N1 trillion outstanding liabilities, the Commission cannot afford to award any more projects and rather should be focused over the next four years on clearing up existing liabilities and sending staff and contractors who have misappropriated public funds to the justice system for prosecution. Perhaps we need an AMCON-like management for the NDDC to clean up the place and institute deep reforms before new project awards can be commenced,” said Julia Hanson, a public affairs commentator.

ISAAC ANYAOGU