AFTER AMNESTY,WHAT NEXT?

Now that the militants of the Niger Delta have embraced the amnesty package granted them by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the onus is on the Federal Government to fulfill its part.
For the past ten years, these men took up arms to draw attention to the sad situation in their region. These strong, fearless and hairy chested young men saw that they have limited options, some of them, graduates from reputable universities, answered the call of patriotism to emancipate their oil and gas bearing territories spanning the longest stretch of the coastal lands, such as Delta,Bayelsa,Rivers,Akwa Ibom,Cross River, Edo and Ondo States.
The Niger-Delta struggle actually separated the criminals from the freedom fighters and underlined the fact that development is the key to transformation of the region and the necessity of peace for the execution of any package by the government.
The struggle began in the 1960’s with the secessionist movement led by Isaac Boro.Boro and his comrades, who were rounded up by the federal troops, under the regime of Prime Minister, Abubaker Tafawa Balawa, were tried and sentenced to dearth for reasonable felony.
Consecutive administration in Nigeria cracked down on communities engaged in anti-oil drilling activities, wiping out an entire community at Umuechem in River State and executing nine Ogoni ethnic champions, including the internationally famed author and environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Before now, several administrations had introduced programmes and policies to take care of the nations milking ground, which the region has faulted. One of them is Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which was established by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to finding a lasting solution to the Niger-Delta problem.
The Niger-Delta Development Master Plan, was allegedly designed and packaged by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the development agency established to undertake infrastructural and socio-economic development of the region. The master plan was said to be a 15 year road map to transport the people of Niger Delta away from squalor and dearth of physical and social infrastructure to a land of promise, flowing with milk and honey.
The big question is: where was the proposal made by northern members of the National Assembly? Who does not know that it takes to live in wooden shanties and stilt dwelling in water? One can only but wonders whether NDDC has lived up to its intentions.
Skeptics have, however, wondered how the NDDC would succeed. This could be attributed to President Yar’dua’s decision to withhold NDDC fund in January 2008.Also,what was the rationale for wanting to move a Federal University of Petroleum Resources,Effurun, Warri,in Delta State, to Kaduna despite the hue cry that greeted the initial whisperings to that effect.
There is no two-way about it, the reversal of the upgrading of the Petroleum Training Institute, Warri, and the upgrading of the Collage of Petroleum, Kaduna,by the same government raises a posers. Does Yar’Adua or some people in the region really want peace in the country? Was the amnesty proclaimed done because the government saw that movie scene, where the Joint Task Force (JTF) is seen as the “tireless villain?” The militants are still able to blow up more oil facilities and the only way to calm frayed nerves from totally crushing the economy was to grant amnesty to them.
At a meeting in Por-Harcourt, there was no plan representatives of some of the militant leader told the committee that it was impossible for the militants to surrender the arms and ammunition which was bought with millions of naira just like that to the government. They did not embark on the struggle for nothing. The arms were not bought on the grounds that if the government granted them amnesty, they would surrender the arms freely to the government and there was no plan of surrendering in the first instance.So,if government now says it has recognized the point of the freedom fighters, which is all about development, should it ask somebody who spent between N50 million and N100 million to purchase arms to surrender them for free?
“Who told them that N65, 000 for three months mean anything to youths who joined the struggle for a purpose, what happens after three months? If the N65, 000 is for feeding and transport allowance, do they know how much the boys in the militant camps receive per month? One of the representatives asked.
Although the government team did not accept the suggestion that any amount be paid for the surrendered arms, the discussion on disarmament ended without agreement.
However, the militants have surrendered their arms, perhaps with doubts in their minds. The people of the region and the world can now watch with keen interest how President Yar’Adua will bring about development in the area.