War Economy and the Multi-million Dollars’ Security Contracts for Ex-Militant Leaders in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Abstract

Although the crisis that precipitated to brutal militancy that brought the crude oil producing Nigerian state to its knees is actively over to a large extent; the state is still struggling with the lucrative and massive war economy that was built by the war lords to prosecute the crisis. The search for how to manage the war economy of the Niger Delta struggle in the post-amnesty era continues. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to find out and recommend strategies to best manage the war economy currently. Well-researched secondary materials about post-conflict war economy management in previous war-torn countries were the main sources of this study. The study acknowledged among others that, the State (Nigeria) cannot do otherwise than to incorporate the former war lords with the security contracts to the regular economy. And this act of the Nigerian state is a globally accepted strategy of managing mammoth war economies in post-conflict periods in particularly weak states.