MILITANCY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Development in human society is a many sided process.

At the level of the individual, it implies increased skill and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility and material wellbeing. Some of these are virtually moral categories and are difficult to evaluate-depending as they do on the age in which one lives, ones class origins, and ones personal code of what is right and what wrong. However, what is indisputable is that the achievement of any of those aspects of personal development is very much tied in with the state of the society as a whole this is refer to as national development in general. Rodney (1972) In Nigeria before the heavy exploration of oil the agriculture sector was the focus of intense development interest during the 1960s, with food self-sufficiency the goal. In 1990, agriculture was the subject of a separate three-year development plan involving public and private spending targets concentrating on the family farmers. The program included price stabilization plans and schemes to revitalize the palm oil, cocoa, and rubber subsectors. The

Agricultural Development Projects continued through the decade,

but implementation of goals was difficult. The country still imports most of its wheat from the United States. An integrated petrochemical industry was also a priority. Using the output of the nation's refineries, Nigeria produced benzene, carbon black, and polypropylene. The development of liquid natural gas facilities was expected to lead to the production of methanol, fertilizer, and domestic gas. Nigeria's refineries operated at less than optimal rates throughout the 1990s. In the manufacturing sector, the government was backing a policy of local sourcing whereby locally produced raw materials were converted into finished products. By 1999, manufacturing accounted for less than 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and all national revenue are mostly gotten from oil products. By the beginning of the 2000, the government was more concerned about halting corruption and reigning in the state budget than economic development.

Nevertheless, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was created to coordinate economic and social development in the oilproducing region. Azibolomari (1998)

Nigeria's foreign debt stood at around $28.5 billion in 2001, a large portion of which was interest and payment arrears. The Obasanjo administration in the early 2000s was supporting private-sector-led, market-oriented economic growth, and had begun economic reform programs. Privatization of state-owned enterprises continued. A Stand-By Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), approved in 2000, lapsed in 2001 as the government's economic reform program went off track. There were indications a new IMF program for the country would be negotiated in 200304. Elliot (2002) All this are as a result of over dependent on the products of crude oil, the monoculture economic nature of Nigeria has stagnated her national development. Ukiwo (2002). As oil and gas export accounted for more than 98% of export earnings and about 83% of Federal government revenue, as well as generating more than 4% of its G.D.P. It also provides 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of government budgetary revenue. Ukiwo (2002) Nigerias proven Oil reserves are estimated by the U.S United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) at between 26 and

22 billion barrels but there are other claim there could as much as 35.3 billion barrels. Its resources make Nigeria the Tenth most Petroleum-Rich Nation, and by far the most affluent in Africa. In mid 2001, its crude Oil production was averaging around 2.2 million barrels per day. Armin (2005) Much of Nigerias petroleum is classified as light or sweet meaning the Oil is largely free of sulphur. Nigeria is the largest producer of sweet oil in OPEC. The sweet oil is similar in constitution to petroleum extracted from North Sea. Armin (2005) Federal government of Nigeria put the economic loss incurred by Nigeria while the Niger Delta crisis lasted at over N308.7 billion with a whopping N3 billion lost in 2008 alone to the conflict. This translates to the production loss of one million barrels of oil per day. Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Timi Alaibe who made these disclosures during a media parley in Abuja said of this amount the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (LNG) lost about 300 billion dollars at the peak of the crisis in 2009.

According to him, the nations exports were hampered as a result of the conflicts in which pipelines were vandalized and oil workers either kidnapped or maimed. He lamented that the human impact during the crisis was unquantifiable given the magnitude of the criminality against human beings in the area. He stated indicated that no fewer than 1000 lives were lost to the carnage in the region in addition to the spate of kidnappings during which local and expatriate workers were taken hostage including aged and young ones belonging to families of prominent individuals in the country. He pointed out that a lot experiments had been carried out on when to stop the conflicts in the Niger Delta. The presidential aide explained that the need to guarantee peace so as to bring about development informed the late President Umaru YarAduas

proclamation of unconditional amnesty and the creation of Niger Delta ministry. The deal, according to him, paid off as the amnesty was used as a means prerequisite to promote economic

development to stabilize the area and promote peace through retrieval of weapons. Alade (2010)

The amnesty arrangement, he stressed, came with it a programme of DDI meaning Disarmament, Demobilization and Integration. He noted that the amnesty has indeed paid off as projects are now being carried out in the atmosphere of peace, with the East West Road construction now awarded going on, and production of oil now on the increase. The Special Adviser noted with satisfaction that even ex-militants were involved in retrieving weapons from their colleagues. For instance, we saw the production value going up as production of oil increased from 700,000 bpd to 2.3 million bpd. We noticed that there is a restoration of confidence in businesses financing in the Niger Delta. 20,192 militants turned in their weapons. In all of these, we can see that in these core areas kidnapping has reduced and the crime rates also crashed. What government is doing to create a Niger Delta region that is competitive with modern cities across the world and get the youths employed. To mitigate the problem of militancy and Niger Delta crisis various methods have been adopted by the federal government, these include forming various commissions, initializing development programmes and projects, introduction of the Joint Task Force, the formation of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs etc. Summary of past

reports indicates that there has been no shortage of proposed solutions to what now seems to be the never ending Niger Delta crisis. From the Willinks Commission Report in 1958 to the submissions of the present Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs various submissions by various committees set up by previous

administrations, all of which have been barely implemented. Instead the huge resources from the region have been used to pursue developmental projects in other parts of the country and even used to bring succumb, peace and development to other countries. Ukiwo (2005)