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From Militancy to Amnesty: Some Thoughts on President Yar’adua’s Apparoach to the Niger Delta CrisisKeywords: Amnesty programme , Niger Delta , Nigeria , Yar’Adua Abstract: This study examines the amnesty programme of the Yar’Adua administration for militants in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It argues that against the background of many years of militant activity in the Niger Delta the amnesty programme was a last ditch effort in view of the failure of the many institutional approaches to solving the Niger Delta problem. The study is of the opinion that the amnesty programme was a master spoke in the history of political engineering in Nigeria. This is to the extent that it went a long way to bringing about relative peace and stability to the region in particular and Nigerian general. The study however contends that for the peace and stability to be sustained, the government needs to demonstrate the necessary political w ill in terms of massive infrastructure development, job creation and confidence building measure among other things. Unless this is done urgently the post amnesty peace and stability will peter out.
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