The office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, on Tuesday informed President Muhammadu Buhari that about 22 females alongside 47 persons recruited as suicide bombers by the Boko Haram sect were now undergoing rehabilitation after voluntarily embracing a de-radicalization programme of the office under the Countering Violent Extremism, CVE, programme.
This was contained in a statement issued by presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, who gave one of the objectives of the CVE as being to reform terrorists and prevent others from joining terrorist organizations and violent sects.
Head of the CVE, Dr Fatima Akilu who briefed the President on the work of the CVE department of the office of NSA at the presidential villa in Abuja, noted that its non-military approach was running concurrently with the armed onslaught against insurgents in the country.
According to her, the CVE has so far rehabilitated no fewer than 305 victims of terrorism rescued from the Sambisa Forest by the Nigerian military, adding that a National Security Corridor Programme (NSCP)has been created to provide a safe route for those who wished to leave Boko Haram voluntarily.
In his response, President Buhari applauded steps being taken by the ONSA and other agencies of government to rehabilitate victims of terrorism and violent extremism in Nigeria.
He stressed that the federal government would continue to do its best to ensure that victims of Boko Haram’s atrocities got necessary support, even as he assured that the administration would continue to strive to rid the country of terrorism and insurgency in the shortest time possible.
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