FG moves to de-radicalise repentant Boko Haram members

Former Boko Haram members will undergo 16-week de-radicalisation and re-habilitation programme before re-integrating into the society, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin, has said.

 

He said this yesterday in Abuja at a National Stakeholders’ Forum on Re-integration in the North-East organised by the Kukah Centre.

 

Represented by Co-ordinator, Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC), Maj.-Gen. Bamidele Shafa, the CDS said the 16-week DRR programme would involve advanced profiling, therapies, counseling, capturing on National Identity Card data and vocational training, in line with international best practices.

 

He said the operation was designed by government as part of efforts to find lasting solution to the lingering crisis in the North-east.

 

“OPSC is an initiative of the federal government, which emanated from National Security Council’s meeting of September 2015, to encourage willing and repentant Boko Haram insurgents to surrender and embrace peace.

 

“The primary objective of the operation is to facilitate easy access and passage for surrendering insurgents to security forces for subsequent De-Radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Re-integration process (DRR).”

OPSC is a joint multi-national and multi-agency humanitarian operation involving security agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), National Orientation Agency (NOA) and National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

 

The CDS said there were 96 ex-terrorists in Gombe camp, while 565 women and children were being prepared to undergo a 12-week rehabilitation programme.

 

“One major challenge for the programme was the notion in some quarters that the beneficiaries were being given undue favourable treatment at the expense of their victims,” he said.

He added that reluctance to accept the ex-terrorists back into the society after the DRR was another challenge.

 

The federal government, he said, should continue to engage relevant stakeholders in finding lasting peace in the North-east.

 

‎The Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese and convener of the programme, Rev. Matthew Kukah, said the forum was meant to develop a framework on continuous community engagement, reintegration and transitional justice in the North-east.

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