Nigeria decides it can't afford not to pay ex-militants

Ex-militants of Nigeria’s Niger Delta have started receiving pay from the government as part of negotiations to end attacks in oil infrastructure.

The payments had been halted in February after the Nigerian government suffered an economic setback due to the economic crisis.

The militants accused the government of breaching an amnesty deal.

Nigeria signed an amnesty with the militants in 2009 during which the fighters were promised monthly stipends if they laid down their arms.

Nigerian government officials hope the monthly allowance of about 206 dollars per ex-militant could help establish ceasefire as repeated attacks pushed down oil production to a 30-year low of 1.4 million barrels a day.

Nigeria’s amnesty office says president Muhammadu Buhari attaches a lot of importance to the amnesty programme.

The payments are done at a time when close to 70 percent of oil and gas production from traditional onshore and shallow waters has been locked as a result of repeated attacks on infrastructure.