This policy brief provides information on the findings of on-going research on “Amnesties for Peace in the Niger Delta: a critical assessment of whether forgiving crimes of the past contributes to lasting peace”. The study aimed to critically interrogate the amnesty and the political settlement leading to it, in terms of perceptions, discourses and conversations that undergird it; the nature of bargains, understanding and consensus constructed around it; the content and methods of the Amnesty. The specific objectives of the project include: conducting a comprehensive review and analysis of the nature, drivers and expressions of violent conflicts in the Niger Delta region and the assessment of the impacts that the amnesty programme has had on conflict mitigation, peace building, national stability, and the potential for conflict re-occurrence; mapping out the experiences, challenges and lessons facing the amnesty programme as a form of political settlement in the Niger Delta and the implications for sustainable peace and nation building in Nigeria and more broadly in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa; and assessing the extent to which the amnesty programme was inclusive, and whether this inclusiveness contributed to its sustainability.
