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Amidst much protest and occasional violence, the
second phase of the presidential amnesty programme enters the second
stage this week with the intake of 670 ex-militants drawn from three
states of Ondo, Edo and Delta.

The first batch of training sessions, housed at a
former camp for the National Youth Service Corps members in Obubra,
Cross Rivers State, was not quite the smooth operation its promoters
wanted it to be. The distrustful men always found one reason or the
other to vent their displeasure. They protested over the state of the
camp, which in truth was not quite ready for them; the lateness in the
payment of their allowances; the lack of empathy from officials; their
unhappiness with the leadership of the programme and the fact they were
put in a camp at all.

The Federal Amnesty Team headed by Timi Alaibe,
special adviser to the president on Niger Delta must surely have heaved
a sigh of relief when the trainees graduated. The training is for the
20,192 militants who benefitted from the October 2009 amnesty granted
by the federal government. The entire process is expected to last six
months, with each batch expected to involve 2, 000 ex-militants.
However, the number in each group was reduced, after the first set, to
600.

One of the officials said the last group was
indeed a test for how the rehabilitation and skills exercise would be
carried out. If that is so, then many improvements need to be made in
the handling of the exercise. One issue that has stuck out like a sore
thumb in this process is the lack of trust between the trainees and
their trainers.

Mr. Alaibe obviously needs to do more to reassure
the people under his charge that he respects the terms of his
assignment and to convince the ex militants that their wellbeing is
important to him.

At the heart of the unhappiness of the players is
money. The men complain that their allowances, at N60,000 a month, are
either paid late or not paid in full.

The delay is blamed on government officials, the
banks or the leaders of the ex-militants – who are also accused of
deducting some part of the money. Since the process has been on for up
to ten months now, it is strange that there still remain some hiccups
in the mode of payment of the allowances.

Then there is matter of those left out of the
process. Due to poor communication or misplaced skepticism about the
process, a couple of thousands of ex-militants turned in their weapons
only after the deadline stipulated by the amnesty committee. So,
although these men were demobilised, their names are not on the
official list of those to benefit from the allowances. This appears
unjust and unnecessary. It is also unlikely to fade away. Unless the
amnesty team finds a way to accommodate this group of men, there will
always be a cloud over the whole process and it portends difficulties
for peace in the Niger Delta.

Part of the final stages of the process is skills
acquisition and provision of scholarships to those who want to go
further in their education. Some of the ex-militants say they are
unsure how this will work. They have a point. Going by the experience
of the last batch of trainees, this will not be a smooth exercise
either. Close to half of the last batch of trainees are deemed to have
‘failed’ the exercise and will be sent back to camp. This might clog up
and distend the system – making it impossible to conclude the programme
on time and heightening the anxiety and distrust already nursed by the
ex-militants.

Above all this is the reality that a scheme that
targets, at best, only 30,000 youths in the Niger Delta solely because
of their propensity to foment trouble is hardly sustainable. The
reality is that there are millions of youth in the same pool from which
these young men are drawn and unless the general state of neglect in
the Delta is addressed in a holistic, grand plan that takes care of the
needs of all the peoples of the area, it will only be too easy for
another set of youngsters to equally demand special treatment from the
federal government.

The whole amnesty project is like treating the symptom. Government would do well to tackle the disease itself.