Tensions in the Niger Delta

President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, told Reuters the president wanted to continue the amnesty "as long as necessary" though it was not a long-term answer to the region's problems.

But as details remain unclear, uncertainty has fuelled speculation that when the amnesty's original term ends in December, Buhari could halt or cut the benefits given to 30,000 youths and former militants aimed at discouraging them from blowing up pipelines or kidnapping oil workers.

Buhari's comments also reinforced suspicions in some quarters that his home region, the mainly Muslim north, wants to exploit the Christian and relatively neglected south that generates 70 percent of state income.

"My people are suffering. We drink from the river where we also wash and defecate," former Nigerian militant leader Ebi John said, sitting in a bar next to a swimming pool in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa state, home to major oil fields.

His message for Buhari is simple: keep paying my men or risk a new insurgency in the Niger Delta.

"If the government does not meet our demands we will take control of our resources. We will manage our own oil," Ebi said, prompting nods from other ex-militant leaders who, like him, call themselves "general".

Buhari's predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, a Delta Christian, implemented the amnesty for the Christian militants, who wanted a greater share of oil revenues and to end what they call the region's historic marginalisation.

The Delta's town and cities have been quiet but in the mangrove swamps where most oil wells are located, kidnappings and armed robberies have recently gone up, according to Delta residents.

Under the amnesty, worth an estimated $300 million annually, thousands of men have received job training but those who have finished courses have struggled to land jobs in an oil industry that mainly hires highly skilled workers.

Instead, the main benefits have been lucrative contracts to secure pipelines, and a monthly 65,000 naira ($330) cash handout that has allowed men to leave the mosquito-infested creeks and settle in cities such as Yenagoa or Port Harcourt.

Many have started families, and fear losing their main source of income.