Army graduates, supports 559 repentant Boko Haram Members

The Nigerian Army’s Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC) has graduated and equipped 559 members of the outlawed Boko Haram and Islamic West African Province (IWAP) who have renounced violence (ISWAP.)

Carpentry, welding, tailoring and barbering were among the skills taught to the graduates, two of whom were from Chad.

Sixty-three people were trained in barbering; 76 people were trained in shoemaking; 175 people were trained in welding; 167 people learned tailoring; 56 people learned carpentry, and 22 people were trained in laundry services.”

General Leo Irabor, the head of Nigeria’s military, praised them for laying down their weapons and urged them to fulfill their oath of allegiance, warning that returning to their old ways of life might be resisted with greater force if they try to return.

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As part of the OPSC’s De-radicalization, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (DRR) program, low-profile combatants are provided with psycho-social/psycho-spiritual therapies and vocational training.

According to the army chief, OPSC has trained over 1,000 reformed boko haram members since 2015, of which 984, including 16 foreigners, have been able to successfully reintegrate.

This non-kinetic strategy, which has been implemented by the Federal Government, has had a positive effect on military operations in the North East, he said.

The defense chief warned the graduates, noting that their immediate communities may be reluctant to accept them back, “I can assure you that if you remember and practice everything you learned during the DRR program, you will overcome these challenges.”

Instructed the recipients not to sell the tools and supplies given to them.