NewsNigeriaSpecial ReportNigeria’s Terrorism Deradicalisation Scheme Leaves Traumatised Victims With No Lifeline

Nigeria’s decade-long war with terrorists in the Northeast is fraught with lots of controversies, but the most contentious of them is what to do with those the government has described has repentant Boko Haram members, writes the West African Pilot News correspondent Adeola Oladipupo.

There are three known deradicalisation programmes in Nigeria. The programme in Kuje Prison was set up for fighters convicted of violent extremist offences, or inmates awaiting trial; the Neem Foundation owns the Yellow Ribbon Initiative which works with women, children and young people associated with Boko Haram; and the Operation Safe Corridor(OPSC) for Boko Haram members who surrendered.

President Buhari has been criticised for the OPSC. He has been accused of ‘pampering’ terrorists. Whereas the idea to grant amnesty to Boko Haram members began with former President Jonathan, it was implemented during President Buhari’s administration.

In 2016, Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC), a soft approach to end the war against insurgency was established by the Nigerian military in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). It was to deradicalise, rehabilitate and reintegrate (DRR) Boko Haram members who willingly surrendered and embraced peace. The programme is modelled after deradicalisation programmes in countries including Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

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“The idea behind DRR programmes is to produce a path to peace by reducing the number of combatants and offering people an option to leave the conflict,” Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, the CEO of Valens Global, and an expert on counter-terrorism and violent non-state actors, told the West African Pilot News

In the OPSC programme, a fighter who surrenders is called client. He goes through four stages. He is documented and profiled to ensure he is not a wanted terrorist member. He goes through medical screening, and his biometric and DNA data are collected. Clients build trust in the staff in the second stage which is called Buy-in. Religious ideology, political grievances and post-conflict trauma are addressed at the deradicalisation stage. He acquires literacy and vocational skills and after about 12 months, he pledges allegiance to Nigeria, declared repentant and is reintegrated into the community.

The only way to determine the effectiveness of a deradicalisation programme is if persons who have undergone such programmes do not return to violence. There is no total guarantee that it works. In fact, across the world, there are ample examples of failed and successful programmes.

“There are obviously many pitfalls if the programmes aren’t implemented well – and there are pitfalls even if they are,” Ross said.

Influenced by long-running distrust for authorities, many Nigerians do not believe the government should take chances on the hazy success of a deradicalisation programme.

Since 2016, about 914 former fighters have undergone the OPSC DRR programme. But there are conflicting reports about the effectiveness of the programme.

The military said that feedbacks received from those who have been reintegrated, showed that the programme is successful. It cited an example of an ex-fighter in Bama who learned barbing vocation at the DRR camp and went on to empower four people in his community and got married.

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But Ali Ndume, a lawmaker from Borno, the ground-zero for terrorism in the Northeast, who has been vocal in denouncing the DRR programme.

“They will never repent. The government should know what to do about them, but not reintroducing someone to you, who has killed your parents or relations,” Senator Ndume was quoted by the Punch as telling BBC Hausa in July. “Not that he even apologized to you, he apologized to the government. His thinking was that the government has failed and that is why they are being pampered.”

Experts told the West African Pilot News that criticisms of the government’s DRR programme stem from underlying questions about whether it is fair for terrorists who once took arms against the state and murdered people, to be free from retributive justice because they surrendered.

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“There are two legitimate sides to this debate. Advocates of the programme will argue that ending the conflict should take precedence over punishing combatants or perpetrators of atrocities. Opponents of the programme will argue that Boko haram fighters should face retribution given what they did,” Ross said. “The question is about justice and fairness, as well as pragmatic concerns which relevant communities must answer.”

Dr Naomi Murphy, a consultant clinical and forensic psychologist and sensorimotor psychotherapist, who was involved in developing treatment programme for men who committed violent offences and considered ‘untreatable psychopaths’, told the West African Pilot News that members of the public rarely approve compassionate efforts to engage with violent offenders.

“The reality is, serious crimes whether murder, terrorism, and rape are symptoms of a sick society. People who commit atrocities generally feel forgotten about and as if they don’t belong and they are angry about their rejection and their pain,” Dr Murphy said. “I don’t believe this exonerates them but it can make their actions understandable when looked at within the context of their lives.”

However, some observers are of the opinion that it would be difficult to get Nigerians, especially victims, to show compassion to perpetrators who seem to receive better treatments from the government while they suffer in overcrowded displaced persons’ camps. About 1.8 million Nigerians are displaced in three northeast states and another 226,000 across the border in Cameroon.

As of July 2019, less than 35 per cent of Humanitarian Response Plan for Northeast Nigeria was funded. The establishment of state and federal agencies including the Northeast Development Commission and the Ministry of Humanitarian affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has done little to assuage the challenges of victims. There are corruption allegations against the institutions set up to bring relief to these victims.

“Being left displaced is unlikely to be helpful to anyone’s well-being and these people should be a priority for support and care,” Dr Murphy said. “One shouldn’t have to be violent to elicit help surely? Society often finds it too difficult to support victims too – they are a visible reminder of what can happen, if the society fails to keep its people safe.”

Countering terrorists’ religious ideology is a major part of the Nigerian government’s DRR programme which has been commended. It is a part deliberately excluded by such programmes in the western world. But the programme misses a key element, reconciliation with victims.

The OPSC excluded victims across communities in the rehabilitation process. Some people attribute this to why rehabilitated ex-terrorist members, find it difficult to reintegrate with their communities.  They were only reconciled with the government and the military, not the victims.

Insufficient information about who gets admitted into the deradicalisation programme may also fuel antagonism. The Nigerian government said that the DDR programme was for ‘low risk combatants’ such as those kidnapped and forced to fight for Boko Haram, but this has done little to calm concerns.

For many traumatised victims in the Northeast who continue to witness Boko Haram’s carnage and are subjected to economic difficulties because of the insurgency war, presenting people who may have contributed to their unhappiness as ‘repentant’ will always be met with hostility.

“If we choose, in a state of rationality not to afford him compassion, to deliver only punishment, do we not lose something of our own humanity?

“I don’t think removing treatment from terrorists will make life better for victims. An important part of society growing is about accepting that we can do better and finding ways to be so,” Dr Murphy affirmed.

 

Adeola Oladipupo (Correspondent)
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