Militancy Crises and the Challenge of Rural Development in Post Amnesty Rivers State, Nigeria

摘要

The issue of ecological constraint to the development of Rivers State, south of Nigeria has been a concern to every development scholar and every successive government in the country. While we all endlessly strive for answer to this problem, another phenomenon suddenly emerged in the literature of underdevelopment of rural Rivers State; the issue of the emergence of ethnic militias and the availability and the use of small arms and light weapons. The activities of these militants which had ran like a virus across the State is not without its own effect on rural development efforts. In this light, a research of this nature has become inevitable to see how militancy crises had affected developmental efforts intended to improve the quality of life in rural Rivers State. Secondly, the paper shall also make suggestions as to "what is to be done" in the post amnesty era to develop rural Rivers State. Previous studies from notable scholars of rural development had established that underdevelopment of rural Rivers State was the primary factor responsible for the birth and geographical spread of militancy in the State. It is therefore suggested in this paper that since the failure of our past rural development programmes had given birth to militancy, we can also use rural development as an effective tool to curb the menace of militancy in the State. This work was made possible after intense days of field research. Inputs from previous scholars were also helpful. Primary data was collected through face-to-face interview with some ex-militants, community leaders, rural dwellers and government agencies involved in rural development.