Lieutenant-General-Tukur-Yusuf-Buratai
Army Chief Advocates
Lieutenant-General-Tukur-Yusuf-Buratai
Army Chief Advocates Inter-Agency Collaboration for
Disarmament and Reintegration
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai
has advocated an inter-agency collaboration towards disarmament,
demobilisation and reintegration of repentant Boko Haram
fighters.
The Army chief made the call at a roundtable on disarmament,
demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), peace building and
reconciliation in the North-East of Nigeria.
The programme was organised by the Nigerian Army Resource Centre
(NARC) in conjunction with NEEM Foundation.
Buratai said the Nigerian Army has put in place right mechanisms
to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate the ex-combatants.
He said: “Disarmament in this context requires heighten the
military activities to be able to forcefully disarm the terrorists.
We are already in the process of demobilisation with the operation
safe corridor ongoing in some parts of North-East including, Gombe
State.
“For reintegration is quite fundamental. We must look at, ‘Will
the society accept these individuals?’ Considering the atrocities,
they’ve committed,” he said.
The Army chief therefore called for an interagency collaboration
to make sure that the insurgents do not go back to the bushes to
unleash terrors on innocent people.
In his remarks, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola
who was the Special Guest of Honour said the North-East insurgency
has assumed the insurrectional level, hence the need for
intervention of the military to disarm, demobilise, reconcile and
reintegrate.
“The goal of this forum is to bring together all peace
stakeholders; military, civilians, federal and state agencies,
local and international NGOs to discuss what is happening in the
northeast, approach to use in ending it. Therefore, work out
disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration and reconciliation
(DDRR) process to address the issues.
“Now that the ongoing kinetic efforts have been upgraded with
dismantling on terrorists’ enclave to some large extent, all
efforts must now be geared towards developing a consensus which
will allow those of them who are still in doubt to surrender
willingly without being forced.”