The Borno State government has reintegrated 720 repentant Boko Haram insurgents back into society after they completed a deradicalization programme. The move marks the latest step in a long-running effort to bring former fighters who have laid down their arms back into their communities, as the state continues to grapple with years of insurgency in Nigeria's northeast.
The oath-taking ceremony for the repentant insurgents was held at a Hajj camp in Maiduguri, the state capital. The Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Professor Usman Tarr, who represented Governor Babagana Zulum at the event, urged the former fighters to embrace peace and respect constituted authority now that they had renounced violence and surrendered their weapons.
According to the authorities, this group represents the ninth batch of 720 fighters to be reintegrated under the programme. Before being given a second chance, the repentant insurgents were made to take an oath with a holy book, swearing never to return to their old ways or rejoin terrorist groups, in a bid to ensure they do not relapse into violence.
The repentant insurgents in this batch were drawn from across 14 local government areas of the state. During the deradicalization programme, they were trained in a range of vocational skills intended to prepare them for life outside the insurgency and to give them legitimate means of supporting themselves once they return home.
Officials said the programme is designed to provide participants with vocational skills, psychosocial support, and the necessary tools to rebuild their lives and become productive members of society. The approach combines profiling, deradicalization, and rehabilitation, with the aim of steering the surrendered fighters away from extremism and back towards their communities.
With the reintegration of this ninth batch, the cumulative number of former insurgents cleared under the programme has risen to 9,680, made up of low-risk and minor clients. The authorities said all of them had been disarmed, demobilized, thoroughly deradicalized, and rehabilitated before being released back into society.