MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — The Borno State Government on Friday officially reintegrated 3,740 repentant Boko Haram members and their families back into society. The latest cohort, designated as “Batch 9,” comprises low-risk and minor offenders.
The group includes 720 men, 992 spouses, and 2,050 children who surrendered to military troops after fleeing insurgent strongholds in the region. Speaking at the graduation and reintegration ceremony held at the Hajj Camp in Maiduguri, Brigadier General Abdullahi Ishaq (Rtd), the Special Adviser to Governor Babagana Zulum on Security, revealed that the beneficiaries had completed an intensive program of disarmament, deradicalization, and rehabilitation.
During their time at the transit camp, the clients underwent vocational training and attended regular lectures focused on hygiene, civic responsibility, drug abuse awareness, and correct Islamic teachings. To ensure community safety, General Ishaq noted that the returnees were heavily vetted before their release.
“Community leaders, the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), and local hunters screened them thoroughly across 15 local government areas before recommending them for reintegration,” Ishaq stated. To help them build new lives, the state government provided starter packs and financial tools to the graduates and their spouses to establish independent trades.
A unique and vital pillar of the Borno Model is the administration of a strict religious oath. Before being allowed back into their respective communities, the repentant men swore an oath on the Holy Quran—a measure the state government fiercely defends as a psychological and spiritual deterrent against returning to terrorism.
Government officials have previously emphasized that the oath carries immense weight, adding that active terrorists now view these defectors as apostates, making it nearly impossible for them to safely return to the trenches. With the addition of the 720 men from Batch 9, the Borno Model has now successfully reintegrated 9,680 male clients since its inception on July 5, 2021.
Broadly, the policy has triggered the voluntary surrender of over 350,000 individuals associated with the insurgency. While the Zulum administration and security officials hail the program as a historic success in crippling the workforce of Boko Haram and ISWAP without firing a bullet, the policy faces mixed reactions on the ground.
Civil society organizations and several communities of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) continue to express anxiety over living side-by-side with former insurgents, citing unresolved trauma and fears of rural criminality.
Addressing the graduates, General Ishaq urged them to prove the skeptics wrong. He charged them to strictly remain law-abiding, respect their neighbors, and actively participate in rebuilding the war-torn North East region.
