Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDRs) as Strategies of Amnesty Program as Conflict Management Mechanism in Nigeria.
Abstract
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is indisputably one of the most richly endowed countries on the continent. It is blessed with immense natural and human resources which provide opportunity for national development. However, since de-colonization in 1960, the nation has been plagued with a civil war and series of conflicts. These conflicts, particularly the recent ones where our interest lies for this paper, had continued to attract national and global attention. Successive administrations since independence in 1960 had adopted several constitutional and institutional ‘remedies’ towards the resolutions of these conflicts. These include setting up of commissions of enquiries, establishment of developmental institutions, and agencies, State creation, creation of grazing reserve areas for herds men, the use of armed forces, provision of political opportunities and seizure of land (under the land use decree) and the provision of additional incentives to resource producing areas (derivation formula) etc. Some of these measures had relatively worked while some were seen as pacification methods and mere palliatives. Thus, some of the crisis in Nigeria, particularly, the militancy in the Niger-Delta Region has continued unabated. Consequently, in a bid to finding a lasting solution to the violence in the Niger Delta, president Yar’Adua granted amnesty in 2009 to the militants and to all those who were overtly or covertly involved in the conflict in the Niger Delta region. This paper is anchored on the conflict resolution theory. The theory focuses on the management of deep-rooted conflicts. Conflict management initiatives are often characterized by long time horizons and intervention strategies at multiple levels aimed at changing perceptions and improving communication skills at addressing the roots of the conflict including inequality and social injustice. The paper concluded that DDR programs seek to support ex-combatants’ economic and social reintegration, so that they can become stakeholders in peace and as productive members of their communities. This transformational strategy helps to foster post amnesty peace-building, and thereby to ensure that the peace is home-grown and thus durable. Unfortunately, the Federal Government Amnesty Program fell short of DDR measures which account for the little success the program has achieved since inception and the continued hostility albeit with significant reduction in the Niger Delta.
Keywords
Amnesty, Conflict Management, Demobilization, Disarmament, Reintegration
Citations
IRE Journals:
Donald Igbinosa EBOIGBE
"Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDRs) as Strategies of Amnesty Program as Conflict Management Mechanism in Nigeria. " Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 8 Issue 6 2024 Page 772-787
IEEE:
Donald Igbinosa EBOIGBE
"Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDRs) as Strategies of Amnesty Program as Conflict Management Mechanism in Nigeria. " Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 8(6)
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