Over 51,000 Boko Haram fighters and their family members had surrendered to the Federal Government of Nigeria between July 2021 and May 2022, according to Chief of Defense Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor.
Gen. Irabor disclosed these details while delivering a lecture at the 7th Founders’ Day at Edo State University, in Uzairue, entitled "National Defence Policy And The Transitional Justice Approach In The War Against Insurgency In Nigeria."
When noting that the process occurred under an initiative called Operation Safe Corridor, the general revealed that of 51,828 members who surrendered, 13,360 were fighters.
"About 51,828 Boko Haram fighters and their family members have surrendered to the federal government between July 2021 and May 2022," he emphasized. "The Operation Safe Corridor offers numerous opportunities and participants are scheduled for vocational training to ease their reintegration into the society."
Irabor stressed that Operation Safe Corridor was created to provide opportunities for rehabilitation to repentant terrorists who have laid down their arms. The general compared it to the Niger Delta Amnesty program launched by the Nigerian federal government in 2009, which aimed to rehabilitate militants in the region.
Additionally, 1,543 repentant terrorists had graduated from the Mallam Sidi camp in Gombe state during the period between 2016 and 2022, while 1,935 have been released from the camp in Bulumkutu, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, according to Irabor.
The general added that despite the "modest successes" recorded under Operation Safe Corridor in the fight against crime in the country, and the transitional justice approach still faced many challenges.
"Some of the challenges include the lack of specialized training expertise and inadequate physical structure, inadequate collaboration and coordination, [the] absence of appropriate legislation on reintegration, low agency and international participation, as well as [an] ineffective monitoring system," Irabor pointed out.
To address these challenges, General Irabor recommended a train-the-trainers program and the establishment of a special fund for deradicalization, reintegration, and reorientation (DRR). He also suggested creating a national commission for the DRR, enacting a DRR Act, building strategic partnerships, and adopting a whole-of-society approach to monitoring.
The Chief of Defense Staff stressed the importance of transitional justice in any counterinsurgency, citing the role it played in healing the wounds caused by the Nigerian civil war and the Niger Delta crisis.
He concluded that Operation Safe Corridor has achieved some degree of success that could be built upon.
Since 2009, Boko Haram, a radical Islamist militant organization, has been operating in Nigeria’s northeastern regions. Their activities have resulted in the internal displacement of over 2.1 million individuals and an estimated 65,000 deaths throughout the country.
However, the Nigerian government has recently declared that the extremist group no longer has a stronghold in the country due to successful operations carried out by government forces to root out this terrorist threat.
In addition, on March 21, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari initiated the new Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and National Counter-terrorism Center (NCTC) in Abuja, the country's capital, as a measure that will facilitate fighting terrorism and beefing up national security endeavors.
*Boko Haram is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.