How Jonathan saved amnesty programme–Onyema, trainning coordinator

Posted by admin Niger Delta Sunday, June 12th, 2011

Allen Onyema is the coordinator, Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN), which brought the faculty currently handling the re-integration training programme for the ex-militants in the Niger Delta in Obubra, Cross River State. He spoke with Daily Sun. Excerpts:

Rehabilitation programmes for ex-militants
For sometime now, the Presidential Amnesty Committee shut down the Obubra Camp for so many reasons. One of them was to allow the trainees to participate in elections and vote for candidates of their choice. But we resumed sometime in March and we have done up to batch 14.

We discovered that some of these boys look forward to coming to Obubra to engage in non-violent training programmes, they enjoy it, they like the message, which canvasses change. So, Obubra is still ongoing and I am sure in the next few weeks we shall be heading back to Obubra for another batch of training. We just finished with Bayelsa State in the last batch. Over 16,000 have passed through our non-violent training programmes in Obubra Camp.

Search for peace in the Niger Delta
The Federal Government responded to the challenges in the Niger Delta by using the military to address the issues of crime and violence in the region. Then in 2005, FEHN came with an idea that instead of using the military, it will be a no win situation at the end of the day, it would be all losers’ game. I led FEHN to bring non-violent education into the country for the first time. Why we did it was to change the mindset of those who were involved in the struggle and readdress their minds to use another method to achieve their aims. We are not saying they should drop the struggle, we are not saying they should drop agitation but it must be done differently.

Before FEHN brought non-violent agitation into the country, no other organization and government has ever done that. It was FEHN that introduced formal non-violent education into the country. We brought in the best in the world. We brought in Dr. Bernard LaFeyette Jr, who is the Director of the Centre for Non-Violence and Peace Studies, University of Rhodes Island, USA and Chairman of the Global Non-Violent Board. FEHN brought non-violent education with which we added training and transformation of the ex-militants. It was during this period that LaFeyetta called me and said which is the most powerful organization in the Niger Delta that supports violence? I told him it was the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), the militants are like members of the military wing of IYC.

That was how we got the former President of IYC, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, Jonathan Lokpobiri and a whole lot of them. We took them to United States, where we did the capacity building and non-violent component. We brought them back and pushed them to contest election and they won. At a time, people like Timi Alaibe saw that the thing was working because he knew some of the militants we transformed, he even employed some of them to start working in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). He later sent for FEHN to do the programme on a larger scale and he met the president then and he was given permission and they sent 600 boys to us for training. Today, if I say FEHN contributed 40 to 50% to the peace in the Niger Delta and even to the economy of this country indirectly through the amnesty, we are not wrong. I received the 2007 Martin Luther King Global Award, it is a global award. I am the first African to receive it in recognition of what we have done in Nigeria. But in our country, nobody is recognizing that.
Challenges

First of all, you have to manage the expectations of these boys. A lot of them come to Obubra with so much expectations, some come there with information, ranging from housing allowance to all manners of allowances, complaints about their leaders. Most times, you are faced with dealing with issues that do not directly concern the non-violent training that brought them there. Some of them come there with family issues, some come with bullet wounds and other kinds of issues. We have to manage a whole lot of issues concerning them and you have to show compassion in whatever you are doing with them.

And again you have the challenges before the elections. We have the challenges of people instigating them into doing something very very dangerous in the town, especially in the batches one to six. We were seriously on our toes because there were outside influence, they were trying to derail the programme then because most times when they were told to do the wrong thing, when they get transformed, they confess to you. Again on the night Sogboma George was killed, that was another day we faced a lot of challenges because we had to manage the information properly. George belonged to one of the cult groups. There was this suspicion that the rival cult group killed him and we have these people right there in Obubra. There was serious tension but luckily it happened at a time we had already passed these boys through the non-violent training programmes for two days. They were constantly being reminded about what they were thought, the six principles and that held them down.

At first there was this skepticism and doubts about the entire amnesty process. It was not easy to take-off but now it is a smooth sail. Alaibe did a very good job in handling the post amnesty process and Kingsley Kuku is now taking it to another height entirely. Kuku has made the amnesty programme to be attractive to the world. The phase of re-integration is also very very difficult but now the amnesty programme is so attractive that even other parts of this country are now asking for amnesty. I don’t have anything against them being given amnesty but it must come from their states resources and not from the resources of the Federal Government.

Niger Delta yesterday and today
There is a tremendous difference, Niger Delta is now the safest in the country because of the success of the amnesty programme. There is a lot of hope in the region now. The people have seen hope and they have seen light at the end of the tunnel and they are gearing themselves up for positive improvement in their lives. There is a world of difference.

Before now, crude oil production was below 700,000 barrels per day but now the production is 2.4millions barrels per day. The Federal Government of Nigeria has done well in this regard through the amnesty programme. President Goodluck Jonathan has really done a lot. As I tell people, the late President Yar’Adua granted the amnesty but Jonathan saved the programme. As at the time he was taking over as acting president, the amnesty programme was going moribund and people were losing hopes but when he took over, he saved the programme.

-Sunwp_posts