Nigerian military has been hailed for ‘de-radicalising, rehabilitating and re-integrating a total of 2, 168 ex Boko Haram terrorists in the north east.
Editor-in-chief of the ‘Nigerian Spokesman Media’ Mr Emeka Nwankpa and the northern regional rapporteur of a civil society organisation known as ‘Concerned Professionals Congress (CPC) Malam Kasim Baba Kasim made the commendation at a joint press conference they addressed in Gombe State on Friday.
According to them, the military were able to rehabilitate the ex Boko Haram militants under the ‘De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Re-integration’ (DRR) policy implemented by the ‘Operation Safe Corridor ‘ (OPSC).
They said their visit to the OPSC camp at Mallam Sidi in Gombe State revealed that a lot of Boko Haram combatants who surrendered to the Nigerian military and repented voluntarily undergo rehabilitation at the camp.
The conveners of the press conference also told journalists that the primary objective of the operation is to facilitate easy access and passage for surrendering insurgents to security forces for subsequent de-radicalization, rehabilitation and re-integration opining that without the policy which has maintained a safe corridor for thousands of repentant ex-Boko Haram terrorists, they would have continued to be in the bush.
“However, the good news does not stop there. Here in Mallam Sidi, Operation Safe Corridor has continued to receive them for the DRR programme. So far, a total of 2, 168 have undergone the programme and successfully integrated into the Nigerian society.
“At our meeting with the Camp Commandant, he informed us that so far, no negative report of any their former clients-as repentant ex-Boko Haram combatants are called professionally-has been been done and that where few enquiries were sought from their records, none of them was found wanting because of the intensity, depth, credibility and integrity of the DRR programme which he said many countries have shown huge interest to adopt, for example, Ethiopia which sent top officials last month.”, they pointed out.
They further revealed that 22 fully de-radicalised and rehabilitated ex- Boko Haram fighters were currently awaiting re-integration adding that no less than 1, 000 others were being expected as soon as formal arrangements between the respective authorities are concluded.
