Terrorism: FG, UN to adopt regional approach on rehabilitation

By Musa Umar Bologi
Abuja

Federal government and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) are to discuss the prosecution, rehabilitation and re-integration of former Boko Haram members at a regional level.
It is against this backdrop that top hierarchy of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office is expected to visit Nigeria next year for a possible summit with other countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and West African sub-region.
Chief of Africa section of CTED, Ms. Samia Ladgham, disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja at the High level segment on developing a comprehensive approach to deal with persons associate with Boko Haram (offenders, suspects and victims): Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Re-integration (PRR).

Ladgham said that in the comprehensive approach to PRR being championed by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in collaboration with the European Union (EU), CTED and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) tagged “Partnership Project II; assisting Nigeria to strengthen rule of law-based criminal justice responses to terrorism”, would be sustained.
She also commended the federal government and ONSA for its approach to the issue of PRR to former members of Boko Haram, stressing that “it’s a completely new method most countries facing terrorism challenges.”
Ladgham assured that CTED would assist the country to develop the needed mechanism. He said the Chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office will visit the country next year for a planned regional summit on PRR.

He said: “The issue of PRR of former Boko Haram members is a relatively new issue that the affected states are still grappling with and we commend ONSA for bringing this issue to the table.
Earlier, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd), said the consultative workshops were called to enable Nigerian authorities draw upon a range of experiences from other member states to overcome the challenges involved in developing and implementing re-integration and rehabilitation programmes, and in tailoring effective approaches to the Nigerian context.
Represented by Mr. Abba Ibrahim, the NSA said the two-day segment on PRR was to improve awareness of good practices, norms and standard and applicable international human rights and humanitarian law.

UNODC Country Representative to Nigeria, Ms. Cristina Albertin, lauded the partnership with ONSA, UNSC-CTED and EU “in establishing clear aims for a criminal justice framework as part of an overall rehabilitation and re-integration approach, including criteria for an effective and appropriate prosecution strategy”.
“We all know that a strong criminal justice pillar as part of an overall rehabilitation and re-integration programme is essential to enhancing the legitimacy and legality of the efforts of the national authorities to address former members of Boko Haram”, she said.