The Federal Government has pledged to
ensure the total de-radicalisation and rehabilitation of all ex-Boko
Haram members before re-integrating them into the society in line
with international best practices.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen.
Abayomi Olonisakin, made the pledge on Tuesday in Abuja at a National
Stakeholders’ Forum on Re-integration in the North-East organised
by the `Kukah Centre.’
Represented by Maj.-Gen. Bamidele
Shafa, Coordinator, Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC), Olanisakin
said that the operation was designed by the government as part of
efforts to find lasting solution to the lingering crisis in the
North-East.
“The OPSC is an initiative of the FGN
which emanated from National Security Council 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),’’ he said.
The CDS explained that the
ex-combatants would be made to go through a 16-week DRR programme,
involving advanced profiling, therapies, counseling, capturing on
National ID card data and vocational training.
He said that the OPSC as a joint
multi-national and multi-agency humanitarian operation involved
security agencies, NGOs and MDAs including NDLEA, NOA and NDE.
“At the moment, there are 96
ex-combatants in camp (Gombe) while 565 women and children are being
prepared to undergo a 12-week rehabilitation programme very
shortly,’’ he said.
Olonisakin, however, said that
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 also said that apathy to accept the
ex-combatants back into the society after the DRR was another
challenge.
The CDS promised to continue to engage
relevant stakeholders such as the Kukah centre, community,
traditional and religious leaders in finding lasting peace in the
North-East.
Rev. Matthew Kukah, the Bishop,
Sokoto Catholic Diocese and convener of the programme, said that the
forum was meant to develop a framework on continuous community
engagement, reintegration and transitional justice in the North-East.
He stressed the need for the
provision of basic amenities and development of the local communities
in the North-East and not just focus on the ex-combatants.
The two-day meeting is being attended
by officials from the Office of the National Security Adviser, Human
Rights Commission, Nigeria Prisons Service, NGOs and USAID.
*PM News
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