Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi, has said that at least 800 repentant members of the Boko Haram sect are currently undergoing vocational training under the supervision of the office of the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. General Gabriel Olonishakin.
Sidi, who was at the public hearing on a bill seeking to establish the North East Development Commission (NEDC) at the Senate, said the repentant Boko Haram insurgents have been registered in a programme tagged, “Safe Corridor initiative”. According to him, the programme was initiated to provide way for repentant insurgents to return to normal life.
Sidi said: “It is not correct that the Federal Government does not have a plan for repentant sect members. The government has set up the safe corridor programme. I do know that over 800 sect members have been registered in it.
“They have exited the Boko Haram through the programme, in line with international best practice. They are currently involved in various skills acquisition programmes, which is being handled by the military. It is being monitored by the Chief of Defence Staff,” he said, while responding to a request on amnesty package for the sect.
Alhaji Sidi was responding to the comment of a former member of the House of Representatives, Kaka Kyari Gujbawu, who had said that the NEDC Bill should include amnesty for repentant Boko Haram insurgents because most of them were conscripted and forced to become members.
vanguard
No comments:
Post a Comment