The Senate on Thursday began moves to establish an agency
that would see to the rehabilitation, deradicalisation and integration
of repentant insurgents in the country.
A bill, sponsored by
Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe East senatorial district, was read for the first
time on the floor of the Senate Thursday.
Already a subject of fierce push back, the bill offers further concession to Boko Haram militants who choose to cease fire.
Last
month, the Nigerian military said no fewer than 608 repentant Boko
Haram insurgents were undergoing the De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation
and Reintegration (DRR) programme under its Operation Safe Corridor in
Malam-Sidi, Gombe State.
Clients, the military euphemism for the
repentant insurgents, were said to have been exposed to formal literacy
classes, skills acquisition and Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK) as
well as drug and psycho-therapists during their training.
A group
of Borno elders, led by ex-governor Kashim Shettima, last year, had
frowned at the initiative, saying the military’s operation was not well
thought out.
They feared that releasing the purported repentant
Boko Haram militants into civilian population could be counterproductive
as hardened fighters would return to the terror group to commit more
atrocities.
“The ongoing de-radicalization and reintegration of
repentant Boko Haram insurgents under the “operation safe corridor” of
the defense headquarters is a course for concern for members of the
Civilian JTF and some stakeholders in the State,” the group wrote in a
letter last year.
“(We) suspect that “Boko Haram members do not
repent” hence the de-radicalization programme may be breeding spies and
agents of recruitment for the Boko Haram,” they had said.
They urged the president to approve the suspension of the programme.
More Nigerians have also spoken out against the policy.
No comments
Post a Comment