The Nigerian Army on Wednesday graduated 152 ex-insurgents undergoing 12 months de-radicalisation training in Gombe State. Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Burtai (L), inspecting Guard of Honour, during the inauguration of the Nigerian Army Vehicle Manufacturing Company (NAVMC) Col. Beyidi Martins, Coordinator, Operation Safe Corridor, disclosed this in Malamsidi, Gombe State, during the ceremony.
Martins said the programme was a clear attestation to the Federal Government’s action against using combat in depleting the manpower of Boko Haram. He said the programme would enhance the acceptance of the clients in the society having been subjected to several vocational pieces of training that would make them more useful and self-reliant.
“The Federal Government is using this programme to cut the abilities of the sect to recruit more members and also ensure defection into the programme by other insurgents. ALSO READ: Ex-Generals, others petition Reps over compulsory retirement “By the time this is achieved, the government will be able to reduce the numbers of free hands the sect recruits to fight it. “Based on the assessment, the programme has done a lot in reforming the fighters against the government.
“The programme has achieved more compared to other similar programmes in Somalia and Saudi Arabia, where de-radicalization programmes are being implemented. There are no records of de-radicalized members going back to the sect,” he said. Martins said the government was employing other non-combat approaches to fight the insurgents.
