Lets Celebrate Peace,Safety & Security In Niger-Dellta

Gentlemen of the Press
I have invited you to this special briefing for two reasons: first, I have invited you to join our worthy leader, His Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, to celebrate three years of relative peace, safety and security in the nation’s oil and gas hub, the Niger Delta. Secondly, I have also invited you to pay tribute to great Nigerians who made and are still making huge sacrifices to achieve peace, safety and security in the Niger Delta.

In spite of the security challenges in a section of the country, I make bold to assert that it is not all gloom for our great country as peace, safety and security continue to prevail in most parts of the country, particularly in the Niger Delta. Today, on the watch and able guidance of President Jonathan, the tranquility in the once restive Niger Delta has led to an astronomic growth in the nation’s economy. From a paltry production level of 800,000 barrels crude oil per day at the peak of the Niger Delta crisis in the first quarter of 2009, Nigeria currently produces between 2.4 and 2.6 million barrels per day.

To further underscore the fact that the proclamation of amnesty for former agitators in the Niger Delta as well as the successful management of the post-amnesty Programme saved the economy of our great nation from a looming collapse, some clarifications may be necessary:

 With Nigeria producing as at today between 2.4 and 2.6 million barrels of crude oil per day as against the abysmally low between 700,000 and 800,000 barrels per day at the peak of the Niger Delta crisis in January 2009, the nation and its Joint Venture Partners are currently making production savings of up to 1.9 million barrels per day.

Computed with prevailing exchange rate of about N160 to $1, daily production savings for Nigeria and the JV partners currently stands at a minimum of N33.4 Billion per day.

Given that oil production in Nigeria hovered between 2.4 and 2.6 barrels for all of 2011, it would be safe to emphatically assert that savings for Nigeria and the JV partners for year ending 2011 is estimated to be a whopping N6 trillion.

Equally, but for the Amnesty Proclamation and the successful management of the post-Amnesty Programme by His Excellency, President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria and its JV partners would have lost by year ending 2011, the staggering sum of N6 trillion or much more.

But the peace in the Niger Delta did not come on a platter of gold. Rather it was a product of dialogue, patriotism and tenacity. It is on this note that I pay glowing tribute to our Late President, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and his then Deputy who is the current President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for their foresight and courage in proclaiming amnesty for former agitators in the Niger Delta. We also salute the courage of the leadership of the defunct militant camps in the Niger Delta for trusting in the Government to live up to its commitments and accepted to unconditionally embrace peace. They did not only lay down their arms, they submitted them to the Federal government and till date they have continued to abide by the tenets of the amnesty proclamation and have also been supporting to the fullest, the post-amnesty programme. As a seasoned conflict manager myself, I dare say that there is no alternative to dialogue. I also insist that there is no good war or bad peace.

Even more important, the former agitators in the Niger Delta have abundantly shown that their struggle was never to destroy Nigeria or any part thereof. They resorted to militant agitation after previous peaceful efforts failed to attract the attention of the authorities to the criminal neglect of a people from whose land and water so much wealth is being explored and exploited. For giving Nigeria so much they were rewarded with crass underdevelopment and deprivation as well as unconscionable environmental pollution and degradation. These were the factors that led to militant agitation in the Niger Delta. However, as a step towards resolving the protracted face-off, which had bred serious insecurity in the zone, the Federal Government of Nigeria exactly three years ago, June 25, 2009, proclaimed unconditional amnesty for the agitators. Like you all know by now, the terms of the amnesty included the willingness and readiness of the agitators to surrender their arms on or before October 4, 2009, unconditionally renounce militancy and sign an undertaking to this effect. In return, the government pledged its commitment to institute programmes to assist the disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration of the former agitators.

At the expiration of the 60-day grace period - by Sunday October 4, 2009, 20,192 Niger Delta ex-agitators had surrendered large numbers of arms and ammunitions to the Federal Government and accepted the offer of amnesty. And Pursuant to the letter and spirit of the Amnesty Proclamation, the Federal Government instituted a Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) package for the ex-combatants who accepted the offer of amnesty on or before the expiration date. Another 6,166 disarmed ex-agitators were added in November 2010 to constitute a second phase of the programme to bring up the total number of persons enlisted in the Presidential Amnesty Programme to 26,358.

In May 2011, a closure was achieved in the disarmament phase of the Amnesty Programme when the Amnesty Office in collaboration with the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army publicly destroyed the arms and ammunitions submitted to the Federal Government by the Niger Delta ex-agitators who accepted the offer of amnesty in 2009. This exercise took place in Lokpanta, a boundary town in Enugu State. The public destruction, which was approved by Mr. President, was in conformity with extant DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration) codes as spelt out by the United Nations. Further, the exercise became imperative given that the continued presence of the recovered weapons inevitably acted as a destabilizing influence in the country even as the potential of illicit trade remained high.

In line with the Amnesty Programme’s core objectives of demobilizing and reintegrating the former combatants into civil society, the entire 26,358 ex-agitators enlisted in the Programme have been fully demobilised, having successfully undertaken non-violence transformational training at the Amnesty Demobilisation Camps in Obubra, Cross River State and Akodo in Lagos State. For the demobilization exercise in the Camp, the Federal Government engaged experts from Nigeria, South Africa and the United States of America. The transformational/reorientation activities in the Camp were tailored to extinguish the belief of the ex-agitators in violence and provide them a more powerful alternative – nonviolence. Let me emphasis once more that following the conclusion of the demobilisation of the entire ex-agitators enrolled in the Amnesty Programme, Nigeria under the able leadership Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, entered history books as one of the few countries in the world that achieved a successful closure to the Disarmament and Demobilisation phases of its DDR Programme.  

Gentlemen of the Press, it has been established that what makes the difference between the rich and the poor nations of the world is the quality of the people, not just the resources buried under the ground or water. It is the people who explore and add value to natural resources; it is the people who think and innovate and trade. It is the people who create the wealth of nations. But for the people to do this at optimal capacity, they need to be skilled. Conscious of this fact, the Amnesty Office has successfully placed a total of 11,525 former agitators in skills acquisition/training centres as well as in formal education within the country and offshore. Of this number, 4,929 are being trained offshore while the balance of 6,382 have either been returned to formal education or have been placed in skill acquisition centres within the country. Similarly, 6,067 transformed ex-agitators are currently being processed for deployment to reintegration centres (both within the country and offshore) in the fiscal year 2012.

The good news is that a greater percentage of the former agitators are now able to adjust to life outside militancy with renewed vigour to eke out meaningful living. Even assisting in attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), In fact, last month one of the leaders of the ex-agitators, Chief Bibopiri Ajube (aka Shoot at Sight) invited eminent personalities including the Governor of Ondo State to Agadagba, Arogbo for the official commissioning of an ultra-modern Vocational Training Institute with Hostel facilities capable of accommodating a minimum of three hundred (300) trainees at a time in acquisition of General Vocational Training; Professional Welding Skills; Metal Fabrication; Computer and Information Technology Training; Oil, Gas & Marine Services. For all of its challenges and the doubts that the amnesty would hold, we have created and deepened peace and security in the region which is the mandate of the amnesty programme, which will no doubt help to encourage trade and investment in the region as well as propel development and sustainable economic growth to commence.

Gentlemen of the Press, the Presidential Amnesty Programme has so far graduated 6,549 Niger Delta youths in skills-acquisition fields such as Welding & Fabrication (2,216), Entrepreneurship (1,933), Pipe fitting (60), Carpentry & plumbing (103), Oil drilling & Marine related courses (700), Electrical installation (89), ICT (205), Crane and Heavy Duty (857), Boat building (49), Pipefitting (60) and others (263).

We are currently concluding plans with Fate Foundation, SMEDAN and Fortis Micro-finance to establish small businesses for over 80% of these graduates in relatively non-oil sector including equipment hiring and leasing.

Challenges

 The biggest challenge the Amnesty Programme currently faces is the rather distracting activities of thousands of youths from the States in the Niger Delta who are incessantly agitating to be included in the Programme. The truth of this matter is that a number of these youths were former agitators who initially scorned the offer of amnesty and refused to surrender their weapons to security agencies at the stipulated time. However seeing that the post-amnesty programme is working, these youths are now agitating to be included in the programme.Explanations by the Amnesty Office that they cannot be included in the Programme since they did not come out on or before October 4, 2009 to drop their arms and accept the offer of amnesty from the Federal Government, have not helped much. The Amnesty Office is currently persuading Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to seek out ways of engaging or empowering thousands of unemployed and unengaged youths in the Niger Delta. The mandate of the Amnesty Office does not include providing training or manpower development opportunities  outside the 26,358 Niger-Delta ex-agitators enrolled in the Presidential Amnesty Programme. Similarly, the Amnesty Office is of the staunch view that security agencies in the country must continue to treat all militant agitations anywhere in the country as crime against our great country and thus stem this ugly trend with all the requisite doggedness and seriousness.

Another challenge facing the Presidential Amnesty Programme is that my office is not just grappling with how the beneficiaries will be gainfully employed and seek sustainable livelihood outside life of violence as the programme’s mandate can only lead to initiation and strengthening of peace and security but cannot grow the economy and has limited capacity to create jobs, we are also dealing with community healing and conflict resolution and reconciliation issues.

The Amnesty Office is open and willing to partner and collaborate with the private sector, ministries, agencies, departments and other stakeholders to find lasting solution to these problems in the region. Among the many challenges that we are looking for technical support to address are:

 Community based reintegration, programmes that will facilitate post conflict trauma healing and reconciliation effort. Some ex-agitators are not able to return to their communities to lead a normal civil life because of perceived fear of stigmatization and exclusion. If not properly addressed; this could lead to resurgence of violence.

Lack of broad-based social economic development programmes that address income generation and entrepreneurship development among local population. In order to address this, we need support to carry out a needs gap analysis of the economy of the Niger Delta. Owing to past experiences, where many initiatives had, most times been uncoordinated which had not helped in consolidating development gains and ensure guaranteed sustainable peace and security. In order to address this, we are desirous of pursuing coordinated efforts that would help create a joint platform to address the underlying causes of violence and under development in the Niger Delta

As the nation commemorates three years of the Presidential Amnesty Proclamation for former agitators in the Niger-Delta, permit me once again to salute the courage of the Chief Driver of the Programme, His Excellency President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. It must be recalled that as Vice-President, Dr. Jonathan was physically involved in major negotiations and consultations, which led to the brokering of the peace accord between the Federal Government and the Niger Delta ex-agitators. Dr. Jonathan defied all security advice and warnings at the time to undertake a visit to the militants-controlled creek areas of the Niger Delta, particularly the then dreaded Camp Five in Delta State. He risked his life and breached all protocols for the sake and objective of extracting peace commitment and ensuring total ceasefire in the region. So today, we salute the courage of President Goodluck Jonathan and also pay tribute to his predecessor, the Late Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who graciously yielded to wise counsel and proclaimed amnesty for the former agitators on June 25, 2009. It is our fervent prayer that Almighty God will grant the soul of our late President eternal rest.

We also pay tribute to former chief executives of the Amnesty Programme: Major-Gen. Godwin Abbe (Rtd) and Chief Timi Alaibe for their pioneering roles in both the Disarmament and Demobilisation phases of the Programme. We salute the gallant officers of the Armed Forces of our great country who have since inception in 2009 been offering their services to the Programme. We are grateful. Above all however, we applaud the leadership of the former militant agitators in the Niger-Delta for believing in the Federal Government of Nigeria and consequently accepted the offer of amnesty. We thank them also for their unflinching backing for the post-Amnesty Programme. We thank also several eminent Nigerians who, for the love of our great country, staked their lives and toured the creeks of the Niger Delta to broker peace and achieve the disarmament component of the Amnesty Programme. The nation is indebted to you all.

Finally, permit me to reiterate our commitment to the vigorous pursuit of the vision of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to bequeath a clean, secure, peaceful and developed Niger Delta region that will eventually assume its place as the oil and gas hub of Africa. Thank you.