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Ecowas And Arms Control In West Africa; A Focus On The Niger-delta Amnesty
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After
almost five decades of oil exploration and production, the oil
communities have become miserably impoverished far more than other parts
of the federation. ….host oil communities have watched as huge revenues
accruing from crude oil went disproportionately towards the physical
development of other regions, and caused reckless squandering by other
regional elites, and their own too.
That years of unregulated and
irresponsible oil production have left many communities in irreversible
ruins, even as their access to basic subsistence opportunities is
undermined. And that oil communities’ argued with justification that
prior to the advent of crude oil, the different regions developed on the
basis of generous annual fiscal allocations based on the principle of
derivation. But with oil displacing other commodities, the revenue
allocation formula has steadily nosedived: from 100% to 50% and
presently, 13% (Ukeje, nd:6-7).
It is a curious irony that
communities hosting the oil and gas industry in many weak and developing
countries often lived in abject poverty, unemployment, poor health, etc
. Idemudia and Ite (2006: 402) believed that the paradox of oil wealth
is the byproduct of structural deficiencies inherent in the Nigerian
State.
In Nigeria, the culture of impunity and the easy availability
of small arms diminish people’s capacity to be open and be tolerant with
each other. The possibility of conflict is intensified by the oil
exploitation in Niger Delta region, where underdevelopment is caused by
environmental damage and the inequitable sharing of petro-dollars. Not
even the Federal Government that should mediate conflicts has
demonstrated
any neutrality. It dispenses more violence invoking the bogey of
“national securityâ€. This undermines humanitarian principles and poses a
challenge for governance, threatening the stability of the country.
Peace and security is a sine qua non for sustainable development in any
society. Thus in the Niger Delta region, where there is a large influx
of small arms and where peace and security are noticeably absent, there
is a need for concerted analysis and action.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]One of the biggest challenges facing ECOWAS member states and Nigeria in particular is arms proliferation. It has stoked ethnic clashes and simmering unrest in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It is against this background that the ECOWAS Moratorium and subsequently the ECOWAS Convention on small arms and light weapons (SALW) was adopted by member states. Such as the Amnesty programme organized by the Yar’dua’s administration in Nigeria. The study has been designed to critically ... Continue reading---
