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SDN reports from inside an Amnesty Camp in the heart of the Niger Delta

Up to 1500 'ex-millitants' pass through the rehabilitation camp every 12 days.

For the past two years the Nigerian Government has been ploughing large sums of money into an 'Amnesty' programme aimed at reducing the number of armed actors in the Niger Delta region. Millions of Naira have been spent encouraging youths and disenfranchised locals to give up their weapons in exchange for regular payments, training and skills acquisition.

The amnesty programme has been successful in reducing the armed conflict in the region and the number of weapons in circulation but many claim it has failed to redress the underlying issues of chronic underdevelopment, corruption and environmental grievances held by the people of the Niger Delta.

SDN's Country Representative Inemo Samiama reports from inside an Amnesty Rehabilitation camp at Obubra, Cross Rivers State.

Like many others, I had heard the stories, rumours and read the numerous articles about the amnesty program, the DDR process and the amnesty rehabilitation camp. Most of these articles were pretty critical about the content, as well as the way and manner it was all organised and implemented.

Feeling a bit handicapped by my inability to separate the hype from the facts, I decided to take a trip to the amnesty rehabilitation camp in Cross River state with a team from my organisation. During our 2 days visit, we interviewed some of the ex-militants, the camp coordinators, manager, consultants and some of the security personnel at the Camp.

The Obubra Amnesty rehabilitation camp is located about two and half hours drive from the city of Calabar and covers a formidable area of over 40 hectares of land. We were met by the camp manager and led through the sprawling collection of buildings in various sates of repair. Some were derelict while others had been refurbished and freshly painted.

Accommodation is in large hostel buildings, sleeping about 150 people. Portakabins are used for offices. Other buildings include the kitchen, a hall, a church building and a dining hall. Apart from the consultants who stay in the nearest town (Ugep) and come in daily, all other staff live on site.

The amnesty rehabilitation training camp at Obubra started in June and was planning to have completed its work by December 2010 but due to the sheer number of participants it now looks likely that the camp will be extended until March 2011.

The manager tells us that the original plan was to 'rehabilitate' about 20,000 people, mostly youths, who have declared themselves 'ex-militants' and taken up the amnesty offered by the Nigerian Government. There is now an additional list of 5,000 people wishing to participate in the scheme including 300 women. The schedule is tights and aims to graduate a group of well over 1000 'ex-militants' every 12 days.

The present batch of 'ex-militants' at the camp will be the fifth to be graduated and is made up of young indigenes from Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Ondo and Edo States. These youths resent the term 'millitant' as they see themselves as freedom fighters struggling for emancipation but they appear to put up with this terminology in return for the benefits offered by the amnesty process.

From the time they give up their arms, the trainees receive a stipend of sixty-five thousand naira (£275) monthly. These payments continue until their re-integration is complete and they are gainfully employed – or more likely when the money earmarked for the amnesty process runs out. This kind of regular income is hard to come by in the Niger Delta where jobs and opportunities are scarce.

Once the trainees arrive, they are searched heavily at the gate and given a kit containing clothing and footwear. Their fingerprints are then taken and participants are given a medical check-up which focuses on drug use and post traumatic stress.

The camp maintains a strict structure and order. As the trainees enter the camp, they are told the basic rules - No drinking, No smoking, No sex and there is a strong presence of armed forces - both military and police - at the entrance and within the camp to enforce this. The manager tells us that trainees complain the soldiers and police are resentful of them but there is no punishment allowed at the camp, unlike at many police and military establishments which are renowned for their brutality. The trainees are seen to be in a state of grace after laying down their arms and they are to be treated as citizens and not criminals.

The training focuses on dialogue as a non-violent way to solving problems and encourages talking over violence. It gives examples of the long struggle for democracy in the United States ranging from the era of Martin Luther King to President Obama and speaks of Mandela's move from violence to dialogue and finally to peace. This non-violent training is supported by the Martin Luther King College in Atlanta, Georgia.

While at the camp the 'ex-militants' are offered vocational training in an array of sectors including farming, fishing, agriculture, computing, construction, mechanics, business skills, catering and many others in order to prepare them for useful roles in wider society.

The second day of our visit was the graduation day for this batch of trainees and was attended by the Chief Security Advisor of Cross River State amongst others. The entire ceremony was quite spectacular with the trainees eager to display their ingenuity in coming up with colourful displays with practically no materials other than their bedspreads and leaves. Following the parade was the more serious business of oath taking whereby each participant swears an oath promising to renounce militancy, support the constitution, and respect the authority of the state.

Awards were given to some of the most outstanding participants and the opinion of some of the camp support staff was that the graduating batch was one of the best they have had to work with yet.

The goal of the camp was to help the young men and women to change the way they look at themselves and others, to empower them, helping them not to be tempted by criminal activities or militancy.

The Niger Delta region has lost a lot of wealth and talent through senseless deaths of vibrant young people. If the amnesty process succeeds in stopping some of these people being lost to us and channelling their energy into positive outcomes, it could be a major boost for the whole region.

However the chief Consultant of the Camp, Dr.E. Appah, worries about the fact that the Federal Government is offering the amnesty only a specific period and wonders what will happen once the programme ends and the money runs out.

Offering rehabilitation, training and skills to these youths is commendable but without fundamentally addressing the underlying social, political and economic problems faced by the region, the peace that the amnesty programme is procuring may well be short-lived.