TOO POOR FOR PEACE: WOMEN IN NIGERIA'S NIGER DELTA AMNESTY PROGRAMME

Unlike most Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Disintegration (DDR) programs, the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme (NDAP) was locally planned, sponsored, and implemented. This raised hopes about its potential to address, considerably, the problem in the region, especially at the grassroots. Irrespective of the enormous literature that appeared a few years after its adoption applauding the success of the program in restoring peace to the region, the crisis is too far from being over. Among the explanations for the limitations of the program is its lack of inclusiveness, especially about the female gender. This paper using historical and analytic methods examines the basis of women's exclusion in the programme. It supports the position that the underlying currents in women's exclusion in locally planned DDR programs in Africa may not differ considerably from what is obtainable in internationally-owned programs.