It
is my pleasure to welcome you all to the public hearing by the Senate Committee
on Niger Delta on the activities of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AMNESTY PROGRAMME.
The Nigerian Senate recognizes
the importance of the Amnesty programme to the sustenance of peace and security
in the Niger Delta region. In the wisdom of the Federal Government led by late
President Umaru Yaradua, he granted amnesty to the Niger Delta militants as
part of a desperate effort to curb the restiveness in the oil rich region in
2009.
The Amnesty programme was envisaged to last for a short period of three
years and then to be mainstreamed into the broader development framework of the
Ministry of Niger Delta affairs and the Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC). But six years down the line the Amnesty programme still constitutes a
huge budgetary cost to the Federal government.
The current incidence of pipeline vandalism and destruction of oil
facilities by the Niger Delta militants have resulted in no small measure in
causing the current economic recession that has presently gripped the country.
It has reduced the quantity of crude produced daily from two to one million
barrels per day thereby reducing dollar inflow to the National treasury. As
part of the recommendation of the Senate to the Federal government on possible
ways to get over the current recession, we suggested that the Executive branch
of government should enter into dialogue and negotiation with senior citizens
and stakeholders in the Niger Delta region, in the current efforts to find
solutions to this renewed agitations.
A chain they say is as strong
as its weakest link. Nigeria needs every component of the Federation to be at
peace with herself. Distinguished Senators and invited guests, as we sit down
to discuss, we must remember to put the Nation first in our thoughts and
recommendations. Greed and personal interest is largely the reason why, despite
all the interventionist programmes, the Niger Delta region still remains
largely underdeveloped.
Seven years down the line
since the conceptualization of the Amnesty programme can we truly say that the
primary reason for that decision has been achieved? Has the restiveness and the
frayed nerves reduced? Has the vandalism of oil facilities in the region
stopped? What impact has the payment of monthly stipends made to the youths of
the region? How sustainable is the Amnesty programme to the Federal government
of Nigeria? Some of these questions will form a crux of the deliberation in
this public hearing.
Thank you for listening.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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