DE-RADICALIZATION AND RE-INTEGRATION OF BOKO HARAM COMBATANTS: QUESTIONS OF NATIONAL SECURITY

The Nigerian government has made coordinated military efforts to eradicate insurgency and terrorism in the country, but despite the support of various foreign counterparts, it has had little progress.  The government has recently made further efforts through Operation Safe Corridor to try a non-military approach to complement the military campaigns by de-radicalizing the Boko Haram combatants and re-integrate them into society. Therefore, this study examined the achievement of this method and the risks that come with it. The study is premised on the structural violence theory. The research adopted a survey research design and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for analyzing the data. The study populations include 100 purposely selected male and female repentants of the Boko Haram sect who are undergoing de-radicalization programs. The entire population constituted the sample size study and a well-structured questionnaire was adopted as the research instrument. The findings show that de-radicalization assists these Boko Haram members who were forcefully conscripted into the group. However, there is neither an agreement nor disagreement as to whether the de-radicalization program can bring an end to the insurgency. The findings also showed that government does not provide adequate social and economic enablement for the repentants to be responsible members of society. Similarly, there is no adequate follow-up by the government on the progress of repentants on social reintegration. The study recommended the need for the government to follow up on the progress of de-radicalized repentant Boko Haram as they re-integrated back into society. The study is of the conclusion that, even though Nigeria has adopted de-radicalization as a strategy in combination with military action, issues are impeding the implementation