No fewer than 390 repentant Boko Haram members graduated from Federal Government’s De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DRR) programme in Gombe State.
Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, said this during the graduation ceremony in Malam Sidi in Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State on Thursday.
He said that the graduating clients arrived at the camp in July 2024 and
went through various rebuilding activities of the programme, which reshaped them and made them ready for reintegration into the society.
Represented by Maj.-Gen. Sunday Makollo, Musa said that the non-kinetic approach by the Federal Government is impacting positively on military operations in the Northeast.
He restated the army’s commitment toward tackling security challenges in the country and ensuring peace and security.
He urged the clients to be agents of peace in their respective communities, while warning them against violating the oath they took and their allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
On his part, Col. Abiodun Johnson, the Commandant of the DRR Camp, Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC), said that the clients comprised six foreigners and 384 Nigerians who had been rehabilitated and ready for reintegration.
Johnson said “a further breakdown of the 390 clients shows 13 clients hailed from Adamawa, one from Akwa-Ibom, 19 from Bauchi State, 218 from Borno, one from Cross River, one from Edo, five from Gombe, five from Jigawa.
“Others are 15 from Kaduna State, 14 from Kano State, seven from Katsina State, three from Kebbi and five from Kogi, two from Nasarawa, five from Niger, one from Osun, two from Oyo.
“Four from Plateau, five from Sokoto State, three from Taraba, 47 from Yobe and eight from Zamfara.
“The foreign clients include one from Cameroon, one from Chad and four from Niger Republic.
“Similarly, six clients are Christians and 384 are Muslims. This information is essential for management planning and reintegration process,” he said.
He explained that during the DRR programme, the clients were trained in various skills of their choice ranging from welding, tailoring, carpentry, bakery, laundry and electrical repairs, among others.
He said that the training was to quicken their reintegration into the society and discourage them from going back to crimes.
The camp commandant said that the clients had confessed their past, denounced their membership of the insurgent group and swore an oath of allegiance to be loyal, obedient and responsible citizens.
Mrs Zubaida Umar, the Director-General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said the Federal Government is committed to addressing insecurity in the country.
Umar commended the resilience of the armed forces for using kinetic and non-kinetic approaches in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism in the country.
She lauded President Bola Tinubu for the political will and approving the expansion of OPSC to cover the six geo-political zones, especially with the inclusion of the North-West and establishment of DRR camp in Zamfara State.
Umar, represented by NEMA’s Director of Search and Rescue, Air Cdr. Abang Oyong, donated food and non food items to the clients.
According to her, the items will help to stabilise them after the DRR programme and enable their seamless reintegration into the society.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that each of the clients got a starter pack according to area of training and N50,000.
The items donated include 400 bags of rice (25kg), 400 bags of maize (25kg), 400 bottles of vegetable oil, 40 cartons of seasoning, 40 cartons of tomato paste.
Others are 20 bags of iodised salt, 400 pieces of bath towels, 800 pieces of plastic plates, 800 pieces of plastic spoons.
