Nigeria ramps up amnesty budget

ABUJA, May 8, 2017 – Nigeria will raise its budget for the country’s amnesty programme to almost USD 111 million, the presidency announced over the weekend.

Close to USD 99 million is to be paid out immediately, followed by another USD 12 million at a later stage. The new budget is almost triple that of the USD 63 million allocated to stemming the militancy across the oil-rich Niger Delta last year.

The budget will be allocated to “monthly amnesty stipends, as well as reintegration activities, and training and employment schemes,” an aide to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo told the press.

Under Nigeria’s amnesty programme, militants who agree to lay down their arms are entitled to payments of around USD 206 per month.

Last week, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Group Managing Director Maikanti Baru said that a reduction in violence across the Niger Delta had enabled the country to restore production to 2 million bopd.

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