Officials of Operation SAFE CORRIDOR have said that no fewer than 608 repentant Boko Haram insurgents are currently under the De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DRR) Programme at Malam-Sidi, located a few kilometres from the Gombe State capital.
Camp Commandant, Brig.-Gen. Musa Ibrahim, made this known during the visit of the Managing Director, North East Development Commission (NEDC), Mohammed Alkali.
Gen. Ibrahim said that 14 of the repentant insurgents were foreigners from Cameroon, Chad, and Niger Republic.
“From inception, we received 893 out of which 286 graduated and were returned to their respective states and countries for reintegration.’’
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He said the personnel in the camp were working diligently with the mandate of Operation Safe Corridor in conformity with international best practices.
The Commandant said that the success of the programme would go a long way in restoring peace and security to the North East in particular and the country as a whole.
On his part, NEDC’s Managing Director, Mohammed Alkali, assured of the agency’s assistance and called for mass mobilisation of communities in the North East to embrace the repentant militants as part of the reintegration programme.
Speaking in the native Kanuri language, the repentant ex-Boko Haram militants, who met with the NEDC boss, shared their thoughts and concerns.
As an interventionist agency, the NEDC is working on increasing its role in the rehabilitation process of the ex-militants.