# Niger Delta amnesty offered to militants (June-October 2009)

URL: https://allhistories.com/nigeria/timeline/2009-niger-delta-amnesty-offered-to-militants
Location: Niger Delta (Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers states)
Themes: main-event

In June 2009 President Yar'Adua offered an amnesty to Niger Delta militants who surrendered weapons by October 2009. Thousands of fighters from groups such as MEND handed in guns, and the government promised training and monthly stipends. The programme was later extended through a presidential amnesty office, with tens of thousands of ex-militants enrolled. The fighting had cut oil output by up to a third in 2006-09 through attacks, pipeline sabotage and kidnappings. After the amnesty, production recovered, but critics said contracts to former commanders and stipends bred new dependencies, and attacks by new groups reappeared in 2016. The programme became a permanent, costly institution. At the date of this event the principal authority over the largest part of present-day Nigeria lay with Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, President of Nigeria (2007–2010). The amnesty brought a pause in the delta war and shaped how Nigeria manages oil-region insecurity, through payments rather than development.

## Why it matters
It stabilised oil production but created a costly patronage model.

Ruler at the Time: [Umaru Musa Yar'Adua](https://allhistories.com/nigeria/rulers/umaru-musa-yar-adua)

## Sources
- [Umaru Musa Yar'Adua](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umaru_Musa_Yar%27Adua)
- [Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_for_the_Emancipation_of_the_Niger_Delta)
- [History of Nigeria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nigeria)