Boko Haram
members
Boko Haram:
Boko Haram
members
Boko Haram: stakeholders want victims prioritized in
rehabilitation programmes
The key stakeholders working to Counter Violent Extremism in
Nigeria’s Northeast have said Rehabilitation and
Reintegration(R&R) Programmes should not focus on ex-Boko Haram
extremists, but must address the needs of both perpetrators and
victims of insurgency.
The stakeholders were drawn from the Office of the Vice
President, Nigeria police Force (NPF) , the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA), the Institute of Peace and Conflict
Resolution (IPCR), Local Government, Traditional and
Religious Council, CSOs, as well as women and youth leaders.
This was disclosed disclosed during a one day workshop on the
validation and public presentation of baseline findings if the
survey on mechanisms in rehabilitation and Reintegration vis a vis
legitimacy by the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP)
and the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in collaboration
(ICCT) in collaboration with the Netherlands Organisation for
Scientific Research in Abuja.
Speaking during the presentation, Ms. Isioma Nkemakolam, a
researcher at the WANEP said the stakeholders noted that the
focus of R&R initiatives is solely on the perpetrator, while
the rights of victims and citizens are placed in competition with
the rights of former extremists.
Nkemakolam said the stakeholders called for a community-based,
victim-centered approach to R&R.
In Countering Violent Extremism ( CVE), She urged government
should ensure all ratified international and regional legal
instruments are incorporated in any R&R framework.
Nkemakolam also called on government to work in close
cooperation with NGOs and CSOs in the development and
implementation of national R&R frameworks.
Further, Nkemakolam explained that the stakeholders expressed
concern that unemployment poverty, apathy to the plight of the
people, and poor education have contributed to the rise of violent
extremism in Nigerias North East (NE) region.
She said, “Politicians in the North East region have leveraged
religion as a tool to recruit the unemployed, and that such
politicians have been complicit in the arming of Boko Haram.
To this end, she streesed the need to empower the youth to
be economically independent. According to her, when youths are
gainfully employed, the chances of them being used as perpetrators
of violence will greatly reduce.
Nkemakolam also urged Stakeholders to take responsibility for
ensuring that perpetrators of violence are held accountable for
their actions.
‘This should be done through the strengthening of judicial and
legal processes,” she said.
By PRNigeria