Nigeria sacks chief for delta region militants' amnesty

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigeria on Tuesday sacked the coordinator of a multimillion-dollar amnesty program set up to rehabilitate former militants in the delta region, with President Muhammadu Buhari ordering a probe into its activities.

“The president directs the National Security Adviser (NSA) to carry out a full investigation into the activities of the Amnesty Programme from 2015 to date, especially allegations of financial impropriety and other acts,” presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said in a statement.

Buhari also sacked the program coordinator Paul Boroh, a retired army brigadier general, and replaced him with Charles Quaker Dokubo, the statement added.

Dokubo, a professor of strategic studies, is director of research and studies at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

Launched in 2009 to rehabilitate militants in the oil-rich delta in exchange for them renouncing violence, the program is allegedly bogged down by official sleaze.

Regardless, hundreds of former militants have been trained in various vocations under the program. The former militants also get monthly stipends from the initiative amid criticism that the handouts were unsustainable.

Critics also say the amnesty program does not adequately address the environmental issues in the area dogged by gas flaring and perennial oil spillage which constitute health hazards.