TheCable

Stakeholders working to counter violent extremism in the northeast have called on the federal government to include victims of insurgency in the rehabilitation and reintegration (R&R) programmes.

The position of the stakeholders was made known during a one day workshop on the validation and public presentation of baseline findings on the survey on mechanisms in rehabilitation and reintegration by the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and the International Centre for Counterterrorism (ICC), in Abuja.

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), traditional and religious council, among others.

Speaking during the presentation, Isioma Nkemakolam, a researcher at 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 insurgents”.

Nkemakolam said the stakeholders called for a community-based, victim-centred approach to R&R.

In countering violent extremism (CVE), she urged the federal government to ensure all ratified international and regional legal instruments are incorporated in any R&R framework.

Nkemakolam also called on the government to work with nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) in the development and implementation of national R&R frameworks.

She 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 the northeast.

“Politicians in the northeast region have leveraged religion as a tool to recruit the unemployed and such politicians have been complicit in the arming of Boko Haram,” she said.

According to her, when youths are gainfully employed, the chances of them being used as perpetrators of violence will greatly reduce.

She also urged stakeholders to ensure that perpetrators of violence are held accountable for their actions.

“This should be done through the strengthening of judicial and legal processes,” she said.