Sowing Peace, Reaping Violence: Understanding the Resurgence of Kidnapping in Post-amnesty Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

Kidnapping for ransom has resurfaced in the oil-producing Niger Delta region of Nigeria where the state has since 2009 launched the most comprehensive and expensive peace-building policy in the nation’s history. Since 2009, about 30,000 fighters had been disarmed and demobilised and their reintegration is ongoing to both local and international acclaim. However, this study reveals that while the amnesty programme and its disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) corollary have drastically reduced direct confrontation between insurgents and state troops, the peace deal indirectly promotes further violence. Politicised peace building has transformed many youth who took to rebellion into millionaires to the envy of others who now resort to violent activities such as oil theft, sea piracy and ransom kidnapping. In addition, many of the initial grievances that led to conflict in the region, including socio-economic marginalisation, youth unemployment, relative poverty and environmental damage, still subsist and continue to propel violence. It is suggested that the state should accelerate massive infrastructure development that maximises benefits to Niger Delta communities rather than individuals, and reinvigorate basic services at the grass roots to minimise the incentives for violence.