THE IMPACT OF WELFARE POLICY ADMINISTRATION ON AMNESTY IN NIGER DELTA REGION

ABSTRACT

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which is home to oil-producing towns, has seen vicious, violent warfare for more than ten years. The fight is between militant groups from the area and successive Nigerian governments, as well as the oil firms that work with them. And the main causes of the war are the socioeconomic hardships and denial of resource control, both of which were brought on by corporate wrongdoing and the disregard of successive Nigerian governments for the needs, desires, and aspirations of the local populace. Despite having initiated the violent conflict in the area by using violent repression as an anti-protest tool, the Nigerian government offered an amnesty policy as a non-violent response to the issue in the region in June 2009. The militants' disarmament, rehabilitation, and reintegration into Nigerian society were the only goals of the policy. With the militants appearing to cooperate, the policy's implementation brought a measure of peace to the long-troubled region for the first time. However, this study contends that because the approach does not concentrate on addressing the underlying causes of the issue, it is not feasible to guarantee a genuine and enduring peace in the long-troubled region. Thus, it makes the case that addressing the issue of human rights, the denial of which is the primary driver of the crisis and whose fulfillment has always been a goal of the populace, will instead lead to a genuine and durable peace in the region.