20100611
Africanews

A former Nigerian rebel leader said on Friday he would abandon an amnesty programme with hundreds of his followers if the government did not quickly provide jobs and development in the Niger Delta oil region.

Ateke Tom, an ex-gang leader in the oil-producing Rivers state, told Reuters that life for his "boys" had yet to improve eight months after agreeing to surrender arms and participate in the government's amnesty programme.

"For now, there is no progress ... we don't like the way things are going," Tom said outside one of his housing compounds near the oil hub of Port Harcourt on Thursday.

"If they refuse to give us what they promised, then our boys will not go to the training camps and we will go back to the creeks."

Tom and hundreds of his fighters emerged from their hideouts in the mangroves of the Niger Delta to great fanfare last October, surrendering their rocket launchers, machine guns and grenades for the promise of stipends, training and employment.

But the OPEC member's post-amnesty programme has been plagued with delays.

President Goodluck Jonathan has made reviving the stalled programme begun by his late predecessor Umaru Yar'Adua one of his main priorities to ensure stability in the Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.