The House of Representatives has passed “A Bill for an Act to Establish the Presidential Programme on Rehabilitation and Reintegration for the Implementation of the Presidential Amnesty Programme in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria and for other related matters for second reading.” The Bill is sponsored by Hon. Oluwole Oke (PDP: Osun) and seeks to create a legal and institutional framework to implement, manage and sustain the Presidential Amnesty programme in the Niger Delta.
Leading the debate on the Bill at the House plenary session of 21st June 2016, Hon. Oke stated that the problem of mismanagement of funds, lack of transparency and accountability of resources expended in the region had been exposed during the course of legislative oversight functions. In Addition Hon. Oke was of the view that the absence of a Federal Government guideline to implement and administer the finances allocated to the region undermines the importance of the Bill.
Speaking in support of the Bill Hon. Foingha Jephtar (PDP: Bayelsa) made clarification on some of the objectives of the Amnesty Programme such as the mobilization, rehabilitation, reintegration of persons from the region and infrastructural development. He also mentioned that the Bill would enable the Federal Government have a well-structured programme on reintegration and infrastructural development which so far had proved challenging.
It could be recalled that on June 25th 2009, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua declared an unconditional amnesty programme for States in the Niger Delta in order to put an end to the agitation by militants. The programme, which initially elapsed in December 2015, had a two-year extension approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 who explained at the time that the extension was to implement an exit strategy and forestall a resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta. However, recent attacks by militants in the region cast doubt on early withdrawal from the agreement.
The matter has been referred to the Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for further legislative input.
