AMNESTY PROGRAMME IN NIGERIA: ANY NEED FOR LEGAL FRAMEWORK

This paper researches on the need for a legal framework for the Amnesty Programme which was declared for the Niger Delta militants. The concerns of the Niger Delta militants included the development of the area, clean-up of spills and the address of the degradation from oil production. They also agitated for an effective local content policy in the oil and gas industry. The violence conspicuously depleted the revenue of the Nigerian Government which mainly depends on the crude oil for revenue. After test running several models to resolve the conflict, the Nigerian Government introduced the Amnesty Programme for the militants. The policy underpinning the Amnesty Programme was the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) for individuals and promises of infrastructural development for the region. The objective of this paper is to assess how the lack of the legal framework has affected the viability and sustainability of the programme. It is found in the course of this research that although there is the Amnesty Bill which was duly passed by the National Assembly to provide a legal framework for the programme, it has not seen the light of the day as the Nigerian President is yet to assent to the Bill. This paper adopted the doctrinal research methodology in its analysis. The primary and secondary sources of materials for the analysis included the Nigerian Constitution, legislation, journal articles and internet materials. It is concluded that the Amnesty Programme does not have a legal framework for its functionality. This has affected the realisation of the main essence which was to include the resolution of the Niger Delta crisis. This paper made several recommendations including the suggestion for the enactment of a legal framework in this regard and to amend the Nigerian Constitution to expressly provide for amnesty in Nigeria.