Post-amnesty peacebuilding and restiveness in the Niger Delta: what do grassroots narratives suggest?

The Presidential Amnesty Programme in Nigeria is perceived as a mere contrivance designed to foster the exploitation of oil resources in the Niger Delta. This is because evidence indicates that a significant number of the registered ex-militants are yet to be reintegrated into the society, while others have relapsed into militancy or other criminal activities. Although studies have interrogated some components of the amnesty programme, the reintegration phase is still problematic and has not received sufficient scholarly attention. As a result, the resurgence of environmental activism and youth restiveness underlines the need for further interrogation of peacebuilding efforts in the post-conflict Niger Delta. Moreover, the tendency to interpret the resurgence of militancy and cult violence as a reflection of the erstwhile militants’ insatiability is not supported by the prevailing existential conditions and lived experiences of people in the Niger Delta. This study reinforces the claim that the surviving militant groups are not adequately integrated into the circuit of economic prosperity expected from the amnesty programme. Using qualitative-dominant data from 80 participants in Rivers State, among others, this study, a grassroots assessment of the amnesty programme, reveals that the reintegration phase of the programme remains knotty. The findings suggest that the programme has further fuelled restiveness in the region, albeit inadvertently, with its concomitant threat to security in the Gulf of Guinea.