FG Reunites 5,000 Repentant Boko Haram Terrorists With Families [Photo]

The National Counter Terrorism Centre, under the Office of the National Security Advisor, reports that over 5,000 former Boko Haram fighters have successfully been reunited with their families.

According to the Centre, none of these ex-combatants have returned to the battlefield following a six-month deradicalisation programme.

Ambassador Mairo Musa Abbas, who leads the Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) initiative, announced this during the second day of the Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum.

Speaking at the third-panel discussion titled “Managing Boko Haram Exits and Demobilization of Armed Groups,” she emphasized that a coordinated strategy would assist the governors of the Lake Chad region in tackling their shared challenges.

She highlighted that the deradicalization, rehabilitation, and reintegration initiative for former Boko Haram fighters, referred to as Operation Safe Corridor, has successfully reintegrated more than 5,000 repentant individuals into society.

“Under Operation Safe Corridor programme, we have deradicalised over 5,000 ex-combatants of Boko Haram and reunited them with their families.

“They are using the skills they have acquired in the six months of the deradicalisation programme in the camp to sustain themselves within the communities.

“Our collaborators from the National Orientation Agency (NOA) are within 774 local governments in Nigeria, and traditional & religious leaders within the community they have a monitoring mechanism where are able to monitor this mechanism and see their progress after the reintegration within the community,” she said.

She added that the “Borno Model,” a state-led strategy aimed at reintegrating individuals who left extremist groups like Boko Haram, had complemented the federal government’s efforts to promote peace in the country.

“We always said ‘Borno Model’ is a model of necessity, but we have recorded a lot of success with the Model because many repented fighters have been reunited with families,” she added.

However, she called on the governors in the Lake Chad region and stakeholders to harmonise their strategies to ensure that they work at the same level.